A multi-level perspective on technological advancement in China's natural gas industry

The third global energy transition is progressing unevenly, leading to complex challenges worldwide. As China accelerates its energy transition to mitigate carbon emissions, the natural gas industry has become a focal point of development. The present study examines the current state of the Chinese natural gas industry and explores strategies to overcome technical barriers. An enhanced multi-level perspective (MLP) framework that incorporates the concepts of technology integration and diffusion is proposed. With data from 2011 to 2022, a ridge regression model is employed to analyze the impact of these technological factors on the upstream natural gas sector in China. A case study is performed to assess the strategic interplay between technology integration and diffusion. The results demonstrate that (1) China's natural gas industry has reached a technical bottleneck and inefficient development, facing challenges such as the advancement of disruptive and generic technologies; (2) the selected indicators positively and significantly influence natural gas production, demonstrating that technology integration and diffusion are beneficial for the industry's growth; (3) the improved MLP framework broadens its application, providing a pathway for technological advancement in emerging economies or developing countries. Targeted recommendations in technology integration, technical exchange, personnel training, and policy design are provided.