China has achieved another world-beating status its leaders don’t want: Biggest oil importer.
China passed the United States in September as the world’s biggest net oil importer, driven by faster economic growth and strong auto sales, according to U.S. government data released this week.
Chinese oil consumption outstripped production by 6.3 million barrels per day, which indicates the country had to import that much to fill the gap, the Energy Information Administration said this week.
“China’s steady growth in oil demand has led it to become the world’s largest net oil importer, exceeding the United States in September 2013,’” the agency said in a report. “EIA forecasts this trend to continue through 2014.”
China’s economic boom has raised incomes and increased its global influence. But it also has spurred demand for imported oil and gas, which communist leaders see as a strategic weakness.
Rising auto ownership has left China’s cities choking on smog and added to pressure on Beijing from its own public to curb pollution and from other nations to rein in surging greenhouse gas emissions.
American demand for oil and other liquid fuels rose by about 110,000 barrels per day, or just 0.6 percent, in the first nine months of this year, due partly to improved engine efficiency, the EIA said. It said consumption is forecast to fall by 0.4 percent next year.
Overall, the United States still should be the biggest oil consumer next year at about 18.7 million barrels per day, down from its peak of 20.8 million in 2005, according to the EIA. It said China’s consumption next should be about 11 million barrels per day.
Japan passes US to become 2nd largest fossil fuel importerJapan ranked as the second largest net importer of fossil fuels in the world in 2012, trailing only China. It ranks as the world's largest importer of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and second largest importer of coal behind China. Japan has limited domestic energy resources, and the country meets less than 15% of its own total primary energy use from domestic sources. Because of its limited natural gas resources, Japan relies on imports to meet nearly all of its natural gas needs. In 2012, Japan consumed 4.4 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of natural gas, up 50% from the 2000 level. More than 95% of Japan's gas demand is met by liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports. Japan, the world's largest LNG importer in 2012, accounted for 37% of global LNG demand in 2012, up from 33% in 2011.
Coal
Domestic coal production ended in 2002, and Japan began importing all of its coal, primarily from Australia. Japan imported 204 million short tons of coal in 2012, a slight increase from 194 million short tons in 2011. Japan had been the largest global coal importer for three decades until 2011, when, according to World Coal Association estimates, China surpassed Japan by a narrow margin. By 2012, this gap widened as Chinese coal imports grew.
Oil & Gas Should Transcend Party PoliticsU.S. is overtaking Russia as the largest oil and gas producer. U.S. imports of natural gas and crude oil have fallen 32 percent and 15 percent respectively in the past five years, narrowing the U.S. trade deficit.
As China’s oil demand continues to exceed production, oil imports have increased significantly over the past decade, reaching record highs in 2013. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates, the country constituted nearly a third of global oil demand growth in 2013.
China consumed an estimated 10.7 million bbl/d of oil in 2013, up 380,000 bbl/d, or almost 4 per cent, from 2012. In 2009, China became the second-largest net oil importer in the world behind the US, and average net total oil imports reached 6.2 million bbl/d in 2013. Notably, for the fourth quarter of 2013, China actually became the largest global net importer of oil.
EIA projects that China is likely to surpass the US in net oil imports on an annual basis in 2014. The country’s oil demand growth hinges on several factors such as domestic economic growth and trade, power generation, transportation sector shifts and refining capabilities. The consumption is expected to rise through 2014 at a moderate pace to reach approximately 11.1 million bbl/d and its net oil imports is likely to touch 6.6 million bbl/d compared to 5.5 million bbl/d for the US, as per EIA estimates.
Scenario Sees Diversified Oil Sources
Substantial oil demand growth and geopolitical uncertainties have increased pressure on China to import higher volumes of oil from various sources. To ensure adequate oil supply, the country has diversified its sources of crude oil imports in recent years. It imported 5.4 million bbl/d of crude oil on an average in 2012, rising 7 per cent from 5.1 million bbl/d in 2011, according to China’s customs data and FACTS Global Energy (FGE).
Crude imports now outweigh domestic supply and they made up over half of total oil consumption in 2013. EIA expects China to import over 66 per cent of its total oil requirements by 2020 and 72 per cent by 2040 as demand is expected to grow faster than domestic crude supply.
Alfred Tennyson wrote:We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
Alfred Tennyson wrote:We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
kublikhan wrote:Here's the top 3 with the most recent data. India is still in a distant 3rd place.
gross imports = total oil imports
net imports = gross imports - exports
Oil imports:
China: 7.77 mmbpd gross imports 6.08 mmbpd net imports
US:10.2 mmbpd gross imports 4.9 mmbpd net imports
India: 4.45 mmbpd gross imports 3.1 mmbpd net imports
Other countries can be found here. The data is older though and it looks likes its only gross imports, no net import info.
Asia Pacific is usually broken out as a separate region from the middle east and FSU in terms of oil consumption/imports:Tanada wrote:I find this list slightly puzzling,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_c ... il_imports
Not because the information is from such a scatter shot of dates, but because the only 'region' listed separately in the EU. Perhaps it is just me but I would find it useful to see continental style regions listed in addition to the EU, North America, Asia, Africa and South America. With the exception of Antarctica that has only researchers and Australia that is a single country continent each of the others has a mix of importers and exporters. Asia for example has China, India, Japan, South Korea, The Philippines which rank 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7 in imports. On the other side of the coin Asia also has Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq and Kuwait, the worlds largest exporting countries. So where does Asia fall in the total imports/exports metric?
Rising Oil Import Costs May Become Asia's Growing PainAsia’s net oil imports surpassed the total amount of oil consumed in North America in 2015. The gap between oil production and demand has jumped over 30 percent since 2010 to an estimated 25.7 million bpd in 2016 and is set to grow by another 1.1 million bpd next year. Rising oil prices, however, means the cost could soar by a third in just one year to $566 billion.
But oil demand in the Asia-Pacific is expected to grow by 800,000-900,000 barrels per day (bpd) this year and next, while the region’s output could shrink by 240,000-330,000 bpd during the same period.
Consultancy Wood Mackenzie expects Asia’s oil production to fall to 5 million barrels per day in 2025 from 7.6 million bpd in 2016.
Alfred Tennyson wrote:We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Petroleum Supply Monthly and Weekly Petroleum Status Report, China General Administration of Customs, based on Bloomberg, L.P. Note: December U.S. imports derived from weekly crude oil imports. China surpassed the United States in annual gross crude oil imports in 2017, importing 8.4 million barrels per day (b/d) compared with 7.9 million b/d for the United States. China had become the world’s largest net importer (imports minus exports) of total petroleum and other liquid fuels in 2013. New refinery capacity and strategic inventory stockpiling combined with declining domestic oil production were the major factors contributing to the recent increase in China’s crude oil imports. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Petroleum Supply Monthly and Weekly Petroleum Status Report, China General Administration of Customs, based on Bloomberg, L.P. Note: December U.S. imports derived from weekly crude oil imports. In 2017, 56%
Oil & oil product imports by country(million barrels per day)
Country Gross Net
China 10.2 9.0
India 5.0 3.8
Japan 3.7 3.1
S Korea 3.6 2.0
US 9.7 1.6
kublikhan wrote:US net oil imports continue to fall sharply. US slips to 5th largest net petroleum importer. It falls behind India, Japan, and South Korea.
- Code: Select all
Oil & oil product imports by country(million barrels per day)
Country Gross Net
China 10.2 9.0
India 5.0 3.8
Japan 3.7 3.1
S Korea 3.6 2.0
US 9.7 1.6
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