China Energy Needs!

The People's Republic of China is the highest population in the world, with 1.3 billion people, and the second largest energy consumer (after the United States). In 2003, China surpassed Japan in the consumption of petroleum. The dominant world consumption of coal is China. In 2004, China average daily consumption of crude was 6. 75 million barrels, and expected to reach 14.2 million barrels per day, by 2025. Projected by 2020, Chinese energy needs will increase by 150 percent. Attributing to the high consumption of crude, Beijing government fixes oil prices by using a basket of previous months global trading levels, in London, New York and Singapore. Then allows the price to float within eight percent of daily trade, which limits crude oil price increases.

Since 1998, the Chinese government has reorganized state owned oil and gas assets, into two vertically integrated firms: the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), and the China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec). CNPC primarily operates crude oil production, and Sinopec primarily is in the refining business. Also, CNPC located north and west in China, and Sinopec in the southern region. Other major oil company is China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), which handles offshore exploration and production. The CNOOC accounts for ten percent of China's domestic crude oil production.

In 2003, State Energy Administration (SEA) was created as an oversight regulatory, for the petroleum industry in China. Both CNPC and CNOOC are public traded companies, since 2000 and 2002. China onshore oil fields are old and running dry, and demand for offshore, and importing crude oil has been increasing. China's top four oil fields are steadily depleting, and expected within 14 years to be empty. Billion dollar oil and gas joint ventures between China and the Russia, creates a pipeline from Russia's oil fields to China's main domestic distribution network. Other pipelines are planned to bring crude oil to China, from Central Asia and Burma, and future negotiations with Ecuador and Columbia.�