Barclays estimates that China’s demand for oil will grow 5% in the year 2013. China National People’s Congress expects modest growth across Chinese industries, as a whole, but does not expect any decrease in China’s need for oil. China is the world’s largest energy consumer and the second biggest consumer of oil, using 9.8 million barrels per day in 2011. This represented a 4% increase (400,000 barrels) from the year 2010. Reasons for the projected increase in oil demand are: rebounding from a bottom-out in mid 2012, manufacturing activity returning to a mild expansionary phase, and the recovery of auto sales despite current purchasing restrictions. China will need to keep importing more oil to meet its rising demand, because it does not produce enough oil domestically to meet its needs.
Energy demand isn’t just for petroleum but also electricity. However the former is tied to international markets and to US politics. The “drill, baby, drill” mantra assumes that if we have more domestic oil we’ll have lower prices. But the policy (under Republican Richard Nixon) to segregate domestic US from international energy markets didn’t end well, and I’ve heard no mention of going back to it. Global incremental demand isn’t just China, but it certainly is a big player that affects prices. However, the US still reigns when it comes to total demand (as opposed to marginal or incremental demand).
So we should be asking: what are gasoline prices in China? in the US? in other large users? I’ll look for data…you should too. Who is trying to address demand issues, not just supply ones?
As of a month ago, the average price per gallon of gas in China was $4.74, considerably more expensive than in the United States. Gas prices are high in China because of government regulations, which are designed to curb inflation. Interestingly, despite China’s high usage of gasoline, its higher relative population makes the average daily consumption per person only 0.05 gallons.
Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/slideshow/2013-02-13/highest-cheapest-gas-prices-by-country.html#slide46
Does anyone know where China imports most of its oil from? I know the U.S. is now the third leading producer of oil in the world, and increased Chinese demand could certainly mean economic benfits for the U.S.