Peak Oil is You
Donate Bitcoins ;-) or Paypal :-)
Page added on March 28, 2014
China is Now the World’s Largest Net Importer of Petroleum and Other Liquid Fuels
Note: Net petroleum and other liquids imports are defined as total liquid fuels consumption minus domestic production.
In September 2013, China’s net imports of petroleum and other liquids exceeded those of the United States on a monthly basis, making it the largest net importer of crude oil and other liquids in the world. The rise in China’s net imports of petroleum and other liquids is driven by steady economic growth, with rapidly rising Chinese petroleum demand outpacing production growth.
U.S. total annual petroleum and other liquids production is expected to rise 31% between 2011 and 2014 to 13.3 million barrels per day, primarily from tight oil plays. In the meantime, Chinese production will increase at a much lower rate (5% over this period) and is forecast to be only a third of U.S. production in 2014.
On the demand side, China’s liquid fuels use is expected to reach more than 11 million barrels per day in 2014, while U.S. demand hovers close to 18.9 million barrels per day, well below the peak U.S. consumption level of 20.8 million barrels per day in 2005. U.S. refined petroleum product exports increased by more than 173% between 2005 and 2013, lowering total net U.S. imports of petroleum and other liquids.
China has been diversifying the sources of its crude oil imports in recent years as a result of robust oil demand growth and recent geopolitical uncertainties. Saudi Arabia continues to be the largest supplier of crude oil to China and in 2013 provided 19% of China’s 5.6 million barrels per day. Because production levels from Iran, Libya, and Sudan and South Sudan dropped since 2011, China replaced the lost shares of crude oil and other liquids imports from these countries with imports from Oman, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Angola, Venezuela, and Russia.
5 Comments on "China is Now the World’s Largest Net Importer of Petroleum and Other Liquid Fuels"
Makati1 on Fri, 28th Mar 2014 11:34 am
Russia is going to be China’s energy partner in the near future, it seems. And it will be paid for in currency that does NOT include the dollar.
Davy, Hermann, MO on Fri, 28th Mar 2014 11:43 am
China is now a basket case of overshoot and economic decline. Its population is in overshoot to its carrying capacity of food and water. Its environment is being destroyed and made sterile at a fantastic pace by pollution and development. China’s economy is in a death spiral of debt unwind in a historic debt bubble that has never before been so big and accumulated so fast. A big portion of China’s growth was unproductive and will not bring a return (GHOST CITIES) are small examples of what is an economy wide phenomenon. With these predicaments in place I see Chinese demand growth slowing drastically at some point in the near future regardless if the global economy slows. What is more likely is the slowdown in the Chinese economy will put the global system in a tail spin. Concerning China’s unenviable position of getting so much oil from far flung location through political minefields, they are “F**K’d” in a global conflict without a blue water navy. I guess what they can do is try to destroy all the navies out there with their large missile stock, Yet, these missiles are untested in a large conflict and there will be consequences if other Navies start getting picked off. New pipelines from Russia will take years to develop and there is no guarantee the capex will be there to build them. This situation for China is the unintended consequence of a huge growth spree. Good or bad the Chinese growth spree will end status quo BAU sooner than later for sheer size of the resource depletion happening globally.
eugeni on Fri, 28th Mar 2014 12:10 pm
@Davy, Hermann, MO
I read somewhere that china oil consumption growth just came to a halt this past month, sorry I don’t remember where. Could be the first symptoms of another crisis as you said or new nuclear reactors coming online? Anyway it’s really unusual…
Davy, Hermann, MO on Fri, 28th Mar 2014 12:28 pm
Eugeni, very complicated situation in China with statistics and information. Their system foster misinformation from the local against the centralized structure. I heard they have significant NUK sources coming on line but not sure the completion dates. That is one thing about China I don’t hear about. I might add a potential time bomb knowing what we know about NUK problems. Yet, nuk will not affect oil much because they’re not very interchangeable. Let us hope the coal usage declines for AGW sakes from the NUK build out.
Kenz300 on Fri, 28th Mar 2014 2:57 pm
China has begun to realize that growth without concern for the environment has its costs.
The recent concern over smog and pollution problems is the beginning of the transition to safer and cleaner alternative energy solutions.
China is already pushing use of electric and hybrid vehicles. They are shutting down old coal fired power plants. They are moving ahead with large investments in wind and solar along with new transmission lines.
How much and how fast China can change is the question. This change will continue to drive down prices for alternative energy sources and vehicles.
The energy transition tipping point is here – SmartPlanet
http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/the-take/the-energy-transition-tipping-point-is-here/?tag=nl.e660&s_cid=e660&ttag=e660&ftag=TRE4eb29b5