China To Overtake US As World’s Top Oil Importer
Please note that we are not authorised to provide any investment advice. The content on this page is for information purposes only.
China will surpass the U.S. by October to become the world’s biggest net oil importer, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said, adding that the switch is likely to become permanent from next year as the U.S. continues to boost domestic energy supply while China’s energy demand remains robust.
China is already the biggest energy user in the world and the second-largest oil consumer after the United States.
China will surpass the U.S. by October to become the world’s biggest net oil importer, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said, adding that the switch is likely to become permanent from next year as the U.S. continues to boost domestic energy supply while China’s energy demand remains robust.
China is already the biggest energy user in the world and the second-largest oil consumer after the United States.
Looking beyond 2014, higher U.S. oil production and stagnant or declining U.S. oil consumption, coupled with China’s projected strong oil demand growth and slow oil production growth, suggest that once China replaces the United States as the world’s largest net oil importer, the gap between net oil imports in China and the United States will grow, said the EIA.
.png)
“It is only a matter of time for China to surpass the U.S. in net oil imports. The most important thing is to find solutions because as the largest oil importer China will be very vulnerable to oil price changes,” said Lin Boqiang, director of the China Centre for Energy Economics Research at Xiamen University.
Domestic energy production would not help much in reducing China’s reliance on oil imports, Lin added, as efforts to boost natural gas supply and explore other substitutes such as shale gas have not yielded any major breakthroughs. It is more important, he said, to diversify oil sources to guarantee China’s energy security.
Related: CNPC Readying $40 Billion Investment In US Shale: Report
Related: China Opens Pipeline To Import Gas From Myanmar
According to the EIA, U.S. oil production will rise by 28 percent between 2011 and 2014 to nearly 13 million barrels a day, primarily from shale and other unconventional oils as well as Gulf of Mexico deep water drilling.
The Paris-based International Energy Agency has forecast that the U.S. could become energy independent by 2030, and the world’s biggest producer seven years from now.
Related: U.S. to Overtake Saudi Arabia as Top Oil Producer By 2017
Growing petroleum production in the U.S. has been largely driven by the increasing use of sometimes controversial hydraulic fracturing, known as fracking.
The technique uses huge amounts of pressurised water mixed with chemicals to crack open rock and release oil and natural gas, making the exploitation of vast shale hydrocarbon reserves economically viable.
While it has changed the dynamics of the global energy market, fracking has been banned in countries such as France due to environmental concerns.
Related Infographic: What is Fracking?
Related: Shale Adds 47% to Gas Reserves, Could Fuel For a Decade
Related: Shale Oil to Boost Global Economy by $2.7tn Annually
