Posts tagged “China”

The following is a guest post from OilPrice.com. The subject — China’s foray into hydraulic fracturing — was also the topic of an energy roundtable I participated in this past summer: Roundtable on China’s Energy Future. My view is that the more energy China can produce domestically, the better for everyone as it keeps some pressure off of international energy markets. President Obama apparently agrees, based on the 2009 shale gas technology initiative he signed with Chinese President Hu Jintao. ——————————- China to Embrace Fracking In an Effort to Ramp up Energy Production China is leaving no shale deposit unturned in its effort to develop indigenous energy resources. On 24 November China’s Ministry of Land and Resources geological exploration department… Continue»

This Week in Energy is a weekly round-up of news making headlines in the world of energy. Most of these stories are posted throughout the week to our Energy Ticker page. The purpose is to stimulate discussion on energy issues. Community members should feel free to turn these into open thread energy discussions. Suggestions and news tips are welcome. I (Sam) can be reached at editor [at] consumerenergyreport [dot] com. Reporting from the Gasification Technologies Conference This week Robert Rapier attended the 2011 Gasification Technologies Conference. This conference covers developments for converting coal, natural gas, and biomass to power and liquid fuels via gasification. Robert provided some updates from the conference on Twitter (@RRapier), including: Shell’s 140,000 bpd Pearl GTL… Continue»

As hostilities in Libya wind down, one thing is clear: A number of nations will jockey for access to Libya’s oil. It happened in Iraq, where ironically the U.S. was shut out as Russia, China, and France won bids to develop Iraq’s fields. The new government in Iraq demanded terms very much in Iraq’s favor — and got them. U.S. companies simply weren’t willing to pay what China paid for access to Iraq’s oil. I would expect Libya to have taken notes from what companies were willing to concede in Iraq and demand similar terms. And regardless of who ends up there, one of the countries will certainly be China (they also had a big presence in the old regime)…. Continue»

Economic Heartache Normally, consumers consider falling oil and gasoline prices to be good news. They have to pay less to fill up their tanks. And if the reason for that is that oil supplies are increasing at a rate faster than demand is increasing, it can indeed be a good situation for consumers, and good for the economy. But here’s the bad news: That is not the case today. Oil prices fell last week to below $90 a barrel, their lowest level in six months. I think oil prices are likely to fall further in the short term, and gasoline prices won’t be far behind. While this news alone does mean that consumers will get some relief, the broader picture… Continue»

The following guest post is from OilPrice.com. ——————————– China’s omnivorous energy requirements have been attracting increasing attention as of late, as Beijing attempts to secure any and all sources of power for its growing industrial base. Nowhere is this more noticeable than Beijing’s policies in the South China Sea, where Chinese assertions of sovereignty are unsettling the Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei, all of whom have counter claims on the various shoals and islets. China’s landward neighbors are also feeling the hot breath of Beijing’s mandarins, however, most notably its economic rival India, with whom China fought a brief war in 1962 in the Himalayas over a disputed frontier, where the alpine conflict, according to China’s official military… Continue»

Global Energy Growth BP recently released their highly respected annual Statistical Review of World Energy for 2011. Most of the news stories on the report have focused on the exceptionally strong growth in global energy consumption. While that is without a doubt a major story that I will discuss here, I also want to highlight some lesser known facts from the report. Crude Oil The report notes that overall energy consumption growth was 5.6%, the highest rate since 1973. Oil prices averaged the second highest level on record, and therefore oil showed the slowest growth rate at 3.1%, to reach a new record level of 87.4 million b/d. (I am on record as stating that I think global oil production… Continue»

Just a note that this weekend I leave for an extended business trip, with visits to Seattle, Washington D.C., Germany, Massachusetts, Vermont, and California. I will be on the road for about four weeks, but will try to keep to my schedule of posting new columns on Mondays and Thursdays. Next Monday I will have a story up on Virent’s progress in producing gasoline from biomass, and following that I have a number of stories and guest posts to choose from. I was recently asked to participate in an energy roundtable at Focus on China’s Energy Future and the Shale Gas Question. It is no secret that I feel that China’s moves stand to continue sending shock waves through the… Continue»

Here are my choices for the Top 10 energy related stories of 2010. I can’t remember having such a difficult time squeezing this list down to 10 stories, because there were many important energy stories for 2010. It was hard to cut some of them from the Top 10; so hard that I almost did a Top 15. But I made some difficult choices, and offer my views on the 10 most important energy stories of 2010. Previously I listed a link to Platt’s survey of the Top 10 oil stories of 2010, but my list covers more than just oil. Reviewing my list of Top 10 Energy Related Stories of 2009, I see that I made three predictions. Those… Continue»

China consumed 2,252 million tons of ‘oil equivalent’ last year, which is about 4 percent more than the U.S. consumed.

Senate Committee barks at wind turbine developers in the private sector for taking Federal grants and outsourcing labor to China.