More from Oilwatch Monthly:
Last year China surpassed the United States as largest energy consuming country of the world according to the International Energy Agency. The US still consumes far more oil than China, however, at an average of 19 million barrels per day in the first half of 2010 versus 8.8 million in China. Growth in Chinese oil consumption has remained quite strong throughout the years at an average of 7% since 2003 while US consumption initially was stable around 20.7 million b/d until the economic crisis caused a consumption decline. If the current pace of Chinese growth could be continued and US consumption would stabilize it would take at least until 2020 for China to surpass US oil consumption levels.
That change alone would require at least 10 million barrels of additional Chinese oil imports and probably more due to the onset of peak oil in China in this decade. In “the development journey and outlook of Chinese giant oilfields” published in Petroleum Exploration and development in April of this year, Hook et al. find that 70% of Chinese oil production was obtained from 9 giant oil fields. Five of these are already in decline, three will begin their decline around 2009/2010 and only one, the giant Xinjiang will be able to maintain its current plateau production until around 2020.
