PetroChina, Sinopec Cut Gasoline Exports; China takes -urgent- energy challenge to masses

The energy situation in China is very tight. Many small and local refineries have stopped refining oil because inputs of oil have become too expensive on the open market. China imports over half the oil it uses. A government agency has ordered the two big oil companies to reduce exports and refine at full capacity to keep prices from rising too much.

At the same time the government has implemented a huge awareness campaign (notice how reuters calls it "propaganda" ) for it's population to tackle rising energy demand:


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[edit on 9/2/2007 by Gools]

Originally posted by Gools
The energy situation in China is very tight. Many small and local refineries have stopped refining oil because inputs of oil have become too expensive on the open market.

They expressly say that they are halting exports because it's destroying their price structure by flooding the market; it has NOTHING to do with too little oil and everything to do with driving up prices in a world flooded with oil.

China imports over half the oil it uses. A government agency has ordered the two big oil companies to reduce exports and refine at full capacity to keep prices from rising too much.

They did it to keep fuel prices UP!! How can you misrepresent their claims so blatantly?

At the same time the government has implemented a huge awareness campaign (notice how reuters calls it "propaganda"

) for it's population to tackle rising energy demand:

Most governments seek control of their populations and since cheap energy means more freedom you are normally best advised to ensure you can control the 'price' of energy.



But we know that global oil reserves are still very large and expanding:

At 2003 consumption levels [2], the remaining reserves represent 44.6 years of oil and 66.2 years of natural gas. Does this mean that the world will be out of fossil fuels in 50 years or so? That theory has been around since the 1970s. In fact, the figures for years of remaining reserves have remained relative constant over the past few decades as the industry has replaced consumption with newly discovered oil and gas deposits and has developed technologies to increase the amount of oil and gas that can be recovered from existing reservoirs.

No one can know for certain how much oil and gas remains to be discovered. But geologists sometimes make educated guesses. For example, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) conducts periodic assessments of U.S. mineral resources. In its most recent assessment (1995), the USGS estimated that the onshore U.S., including Alaska, has undiscovered, technically recoverable resources of 112.3 billion barrels of oil and 1,074 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. In a separate assessment of offshore resources completed in 2000, the U.S. Minerals Management Service (MMS) estimated that 75 billion barrels of oil and 362 trillion cubic feet of natural gas underlie the areas off the coasts of the U.S. The USGS and MMS resource assessments make clear that, despite being a very mature producing area, substantial resources still exist in the U.S.

World oil resources to 2025 may be more than two times current reserves, based on an estimate from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) using USGS data. Reserve growth of 730 billion barrels accounts for new discoveries and the expansion of what can be recovered from known reservoirs due to advances in technology and improvements in economics. But EIA estimates that in 2025, countries around the globe will still have more than 900 billion barrels of oil remaining to be discovered. EIA estimates total world oil resources at more than 2.9 trillion barrels of oil.

How much oil and natural gas i left?

WASHINGTON, DC, June 21 -- BP PLC tried recently to quell renewed concerns by some industry observers that world oil reserves are running out sooner than expected.

"2003 was a turbulent year in the world's energy markets, with supply disruptions, strong growth in both demand and production of oil and coal, and the highest prices in the oil and gas markets for 20 years," said BP Chief Economist Peter Davies.

However, he said, "The high prices were not driven by fundamental resource shortages: In 2003, the world's reserves of oil and natural gas continued their long term trend of growing faster than production."

BP: World oil and gas reserves still growing at healthy pace

So we know these are just ploys to keep energy from the people of the world.




Because the Chinese are well aware that both the US and Russia have a vested interest in chasing up world oil prices for their own domestic interest; it makes strategic sense for China to invest in alternatives and 'educate' their people in this way until they can gain the necessary power to gain and protect their own oil supplies.



So here they admit it's a question of strategy and geopolitics...

Stellar