Determinants of Chinese Outward FDI in Energy Sector

Abstract

China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has provided a broad stage for Chinese firms to speed up the pace of internationalization, especially for the energy sector. Through an analysis of 813 completed outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) cases by Chinese firms from 2005 to 2017 in the energy sector, this paper evaluated the relationship between Chinese OFDI and the energy structure of host countries. It was found that Chinese energy firms tend to invest when the host countries have higher energy efficiency and better industrial structure. Further it reveals the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has an obvious impetus to Chinese OFDI in the energy sector in related areas. This study fills the research blank on the motivation and location choice of OFDI in the field of energy, and an analysis on impact of new policy framework-BRI is focused. We believe our results are of importance to support firms’ decisions in OFDI.