China Digital Times

China news tagged with: energy demand (70)

• New Gas Pipeline From Central Asia Feeds China

  

  The New York Times has more about the new gas pipeline running from Turkmenistan to Xinjiang, which President Hu Jintao officially opened this week:

  The ambitious project runs 1,140 miles across three Central Asian nations to the Chinese border, linking Turkmenistan to the Chinese region of Xinjiang. Once inside China, it connects with a pipeline that can carry the fuel even farther east.

  Though helpful to energy-parched China, the project siphons potential supplies from the long-delayed pipeline that the European Union would like to see built from Turkey to Central Europe. Such a project could also tap sources of natural gas in Turkmenistan, a stark illustration of the overlapping energy interests at play in the region.

  For the China pipeline, Turkmenistan says it can supply 40 billion cubic meters of gas for 30 years once the line reaches full capacity, reported China Daily, an official English-language newspaper. That is about the equivalent of half of China’s current consumption of natural gas.

  » Read more
  • December 14, 2009 9:56 PM

• China Leads Solar Home Revolution

  

  Asia Times has a report about the proliferation of solar water heaters in China as part of the country’s efforts to produce and promote renewable energy technologies:

  Solar water heater systems can be seen across China, from the largest urban metropolitan areas to the smallest rural hamlets. The systems are most common on residential buildings in urban areas, while 90% of the systems are used in single households and 10% in schools, hotels and restaurants.

  Altogether, over 30 million households in China use the systems. Southwestern Yunnan province, an area known for abundant sunshine and consistent year-round temperatures, has adopted widespread use of solar water heater systems, with almost all residential buildings in cities and rural areas equipped with them.

  A combination of low production costs and significant government support has contributed to the rise of the systems. A standard household system can be set up for just over 2,000 yuan (US$294), compared with 1,800 yuan for gas and as low as 500 yuan for comparable electric water heaters. However, every cubic meter of natural gas costs about 1.7 yuan and every kilowatt hour of mains electricity costs about 0.44 yuan, compared with no cost for a SWH system – a significant savings over time, especially in areas with no access to natural gas and with abundant solar energy.

  According to a study by Shanghai Jiao Tong University, SWHs were the most economical domestic hot water system compared with diesel oil boilers, gas boilers, or electric water heaters. The annual operating costs of SWHs in Shanghai were 70% less than electric water heaters.

  Read more about the rise of solar power in China via Good Magazine.

  » Read more
  • October 28, 2009 1:27 PM

• China Spends Billions In A Global Spree For Oil

  

  NPR looks at China’s efforts to buy up oil and other energy resources around the world, even from governments that are shunned by most countries:

  Philip Andrews-Speed, an energy expert at the University of Dundee in Scotland, says that by doing this, China is actually increasing the global supply of oil.

  “They’re going in and producing in countries that otherwise people might not be producing in. So actually, at the margins, they are producing more oil to market than would be if nobody was going into those countries,” Andrews-Speed says.

  He says oil producers have various reasons for selling to China.

  Some poorer nations want the infrastructure investment that China often pledges to sweeten an oil deal. Other countries, like Venezuela, see China as a political counterweight to the United States.

  But many are just betting that the global focus of political and economic power is shifting China’s way.

  » Read more
  • October 26, 2009 8:55 PM

• The Demise of the Dollar？

  

  The Independent published an allegedly “exclusive report” by Robert Fisk that several countries, including China, Russia, Japan, France and Gulf states had met secretly to find ways to stop using the U.S. dollar as the standard currency for oil trading. The news sent the value of the dollar further on its downward slide. From the Independent’s report:

  In the most profound financial change in recent Middle East history, Gulf Arabs are planning – along with China, Russia, Japan and France – to end dollar dealings for oil, moving instead to a basket of currencies including the Japanese yen and Chinese yuan, the euro, gold and a new, unified currency planned for nations in the Gulf Co-operation Council, including Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Qatar.

  Secret meetings have already been held by finance ministers and central bank governors in Russia, China, Japan and Brazil to work on the scheme, which will mean that oil will no longer be priced in dollars.

  The plans, confirmed to The Independent by both Gulf Arab and Chinese banking sources in Hong Kong, may help to explain the sudden rise in gold prices, but it also augurs an extraordinary transition from dollar markets within nine years.

  Representatives from several of the countries named immediately issued denials. From Bloomberg:

  Saudi Arabia hasn’t held talks with China and other countries on dropping the dollar as the currency for pricing oil, Saudi Central Bank Governor Muhammad al-Jasser said, denying a report in the U.K.’s Independent newspaper.

  The Independent report is “absolutely incorrect” and there has been “absolutely nothing” of that nature discussed between Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, and other countries, al-Jasser told reporters in Istanbul, where he’s attending an International Monetary Fund summit. The dollar pared losses after his remarks.

  And from AP:

  Officials in several of the countries either denied talks or said they had no knowledge.

  But the denials did not stop the dollar selloff. By late afternoon London time, the dollar was down 0.8 percent at 88.80, while the euro was up by 0.7 percent to $1.4748.

  Further sustained falls could see the dollar fall below its multi-year low of 87.11 yen, and the euro break above its two-year high of $1.4842, achieved last month.

  Kuwait’s oil minister, Sheik Ahmed Al Abdullah Al Sabah, said there have been no talks on the topic among Gulf oil ministers. “At our level, no,” he said. “I didn’t even dream about it.”

  And the head of the United Arab Emirates’ central bank, Sultan Nasser al-Suweidi, said the Gulf nation has no plans to stop pricing oil in dollars. “There has been no meeting … whatsoever,” he told The Associated Press, adding that the dollar “will continue as the price for oil.”

  And from the New York Times:

  The article named no sources and was quickly denied by Muhammad al-Jasser, the governor of the Saudi central bank, and Dmitry Pankin, Russia’s deputy finance minister. French officials declined to comment. In China, the government is closed for a weeklong holiday, but well-connected bankers were skeptical.

  “While informal discussions might have taken place, I doubt they represent a serious intent to undermine the existing global monetary order or the role of the U.S. dollar,” said Fred Hu, who is the chairman of greater China for Goldman Sachs and advises the Chinese government.

  Al Jazeera interviewed Robert Fisk, the author of the Independent report, about his claims:
  

  » Read more
  • October 6, 2009 1:08 PM

• Iraqi OIl Goes to China

  

  Forbes reports on China’s efforts to secure gas and oil field contracts with Iraq:

  Chinese oil giants have turned to Africa and other developing countries to explore oil. With 115 billion barrels in proved remaining recoverable reserves, about 10% of the global total, Iraq has the world’s third-largest oil reserve after Saudi Arabia and Iran, and is China’s latest investment target.

  To avoid unnecessary political pressure and to increase their chances to win the unprecedented oil projects, China Daily said Chinese companies might team up with foreign companies to form consortia to bid in Iraq’s second auction, continuing the strategy they used in the first round.

  All the three Chinese major oil enterprises, paired with different overseas partners, took part in the bidding for all six oilfields and two gasfields contracts last Tuesday at Iraq’s first auction since the U.S.-led invasion.

  » Read more
  • July 7, 2009 12:03 PM

• China Emerges as a Leader in Cleaner Coal Technology

  

  Despite China’s abundant use of coal which worries environmentalists around the world, the country is also at the forefront of developing cleaner coal power plants, the New York Times reports:

  While the United States is still debating whether to build a more efficient kind of coal-fired power plant that uses extremely hot steam, China has begun building such plants at a rate of one a month.

  Construction has stalled in the United States on a new generation of low-pollution power plants that turn coal into a gas before burning it, although Energy Secretary Steven Chu said Thursday that the Obama administration might revive one power plant of this type. But China has already approved equipment purchases for just such a power plant, to be assembled soon in a muddy field here in Tianjin.

  “The steps they’ve taken are probably as fast and as serious as anywhere in power-generation history,” said Hal Harvey, president of ClimateWorks, a group in San Francisco that helps finance projects to limit global warming.

  » Read more
  • May 10, 2009 8:25 PM

• Russia Agrees to $25 Billion Oil-for-Loans Deal With China

  

  Energy-hungry China has signed a major 20-year deal with Russia. From Bloomberg:

  Russia agreed to supply China with oil for 20 years in return for a $25 billion credit, as the world’s largest energy producer seeks to expand its presence on East Asian markets.

  Russia signed the accord in Beijing today to deliver 15 million metric tons a year (301,000 barrels a day) for the next two decades, as well as build a branch from a new Siberian pipeline to the Chinese border, Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin said on Russian state broadcaster Vesti-24.

  [...] Russia, which shares a 4,300-kilometer (2,700-mile) border with China, is seeking to increase its influence in East Asia by building oil and gas pipelines, starting deliveries of liquefied natural gas and hosting the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in 2012. Currently Russia delivers oil to China via rail and a pipeline via neighboring Kazakhstan.

  See also reports from Xinhua and RIA Novosti.

  » Read more
  • February 17, 2009 1:13 PM

• Can China Go Green?

  

  Robert Collier, a visiting scholar at U.C. Berkeley who is writing a book and China and global warming, has written a guest post on the Climate Progress blog answering the question, “Can China go green?“:

  After Saturday’s sputtering end of the U.N. climate talks in Poznan, Poland, it’s clearer than ever that the fate of the post-Kyoto negotiations will depend on whether China can be coaxed to adopt some sort of carbon emissions limits. But as this tug of war plays out in the next year and beyond, what’s most important is not what China says on the diplomatic front but what it does on the home front.

  The news on that score is mixed at best. On Friday, the central government admitted that the country is sliding backward in its crucial benchmark for its campaign to increase energy efficiency throughout the economy. The National Development and Reform Commission, China’s super-cabinet agency for economic policy, announced that energy consumption per unit of GDP (what the Chinese call “energy intensity”) fell 3.46 percent over the first three quarters. That’s well below the goal of a 20 percent reduction from 2006 to 2010, which would require 4 percent annual reduction. In fact, 2008 will be the third successive year to fail to reach the benchmark. (The figures for 2006 and 2007 were 1.79 percent and 3.66 percent respectively.) Even worse, the pace of improvement slackened notably during this year’s third quarter, with energy intensity falling only 0.58 percent.

  All of this is especially bad news because the energy intensity campaign has been the Chinese government’s single most prominent initiative related to global warming.

  » Read more
  • December 16, 2008 2:38 PM

• China Cuts Interest Rates; Oil Prices Surge

  

  The People’s Bank of China, the country’s central bank, announced the largest interest rate cut in 11 years today in an effort to get the economy moving again. From the New York Times:

  The central bank, the People’s Bank of China, announced late Wednesday afternoon that it was lowering by 1.08 percentage points the one-year lending and deposit rates that banks are allowed to charge, effective on Thursday. The new lending rate is 5.58 percent and the new deposit rate is 2.52 percent. The central bank had already cut the benchmark rate three times since Sept. 16 and the benchmark deposit rate twice, by 0.27 percentage points each time.

  The one-year lending rate is important in China because banks use it to calculate other interest rates, based on the maturity of the loan and the creditworthiness of the borrower.

  Immediately following this news, oil prices rose globally, Bloomberg reported:

  Chinese fuel demand has fallen “sharply” since September because of credit-market turmoil, the country’s biggest oil producer, China National Petroleum Corp., said Nov. 17. Prices fell from the day’s highs after a government report showed that U.S. oil and gasoline supplies increased more than forecast.

  “Thank you People’s Bank of China,” said Phil Flynn, senior trader at Alaron Trading Corp. in Chicago. “The Chinese action is definitely giving us a boost today. I don’t know if this rally will last because we’ve had a number of stimulus packages announced followed by short-term rallies.”

  Crude oil for January delivery climbed $2.67, or 5.3 percent, to $53.44 a barrel at 11:25 a.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices rose as much as $2.23, or 4.4 percent, to $53 before the Energy Department released its weekly report today at 10:35 a.m. in Washington. Futures have dropped 64 percent since reaching a record $147.27 on July 11.

  » Read more
  • November 26, 2008 10:28 AM

• China Syndrome: Will Chinese Slowdown Push Oil Down Further?

  

  The Wall Street Journal blog looks at whether or not a economic slowdown, which has been widely predicted for China, will impact global oil prices:

  China’s economic “slowdown,” with GDP growth of 9% in the third quarter (down from 12.2% a year ago) has some alarm bells ringing. A Chinese slowdown, on top of economic woes in Europe and the U.S., threatens to deflate global demand for oil. From Bloomberg:

  “I think the economic news from Asia is knocking the last leg from under the bulls,” said Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy & Economic Research in Winchester, Massachusetts. “We’re now getting evidence that China isn’t immune to the financial crisis after all.”

  That poses a couple of questions. Is China really slowing down? And will that really affect its demand for oil? GDP growth didn’t match previous quarters, for sure, but lots of economists chalk that up to post-Olympic adjustments and the cooling of certain overheated sectors. Imports, too, have slipped in recent months—including diesel and gasoline. That’s led plenty to speculate that China’s export-driven growth will take a hit as the U.S. and Europe retrench.

  But crude oil imports haven’t budged at all.

  Meanwhile, Australian mining giant Rio Tinto has predicted that Chinese demand for natural resources will bounce back in 2009 after the impact of the global slump eases. Read also “How much Wall Street storm would hit China” from People’s Daily.

  » Read more
  • October 23, 2008 10:44 AM

• China Plans String of Dams in South Tibet

  

  China is planning to build several dams in southern Tibet to help meet energy demand. From the Guardian:

  …Officials in Lhasa argue the dams are the least damaging way of providing power and raising living standards in the region. “Tibet is rich in water resources and has good potential for setting up more hydropower stations and dams,” said Baima Wangdui, director of the region’s water resources department. “With the economic development of Tibet we need more resources. We will take great care in protecting Tibet’s natural life and consider the [impact] on society.”

  They add that hydropower is cleaner and more efficient than coal, oil, gas or nuclear power stations to generate electricity. A 2003 study by the ministry of water suggested it could generate 1,800bn kilowatt hours a year in Tibet.

  [...] But Tashi Tsering, a researcher on Tibetan water resources at the University of British Columbia, warned that assessments did not recognise the full impact of damming. While they consider local biodiversity, they frequently failed to consider water quality and roles played by free-flowing rivers such as nutrient recycling.

  » Read more
  • October 14, 2008 9:18 PM

• China’s Power Crisis Deepens as Coal Supply Dwindles

  

  From Bloomberg:

  China, the world’s second-biggest energy consumer, is facing a deepening summer power crisis that may persist into the winter months, the nation’s dominant electricity distributor said.

  State Grid Corp. of China, which more than 1 billion people rely on for power, said electricity shortages have worsened because of inadequate coal supplies. Forty-six percent of the power stations connected to the distributor’s grid have coal stockpiles below the “caution line,” or seven days of consumption, data from the company showed today.

  China, facing its sixth year of electricity shortages, mothballed at least 2.9 percent of its coal-fired generating capacity as of July 25 as fuel supplies dwindled, State Grid said. Coal shortfalls may worsen in winter as power demand stays high and hydropower output falls to a seasonal low, it said.

  » Read more
  • July 29, 2008 5:53 AM

• China’s Thirst for Oil

  

  From The International Crisis Group:

  China’s need for energy is growing faster than any other country’s. Record economic growth results in demand that outstrips domestic supply, leading Beijing to look outward to ensure growth and stability. Concerns about the global oil market have led state firms to buy stakes around the world, often in countries shunned by Western firms. The investments are an important factor in Beijing’s foreign policy. They also drive concerns that China’s actions fuel or exacerbate conflict in the developing world and cause tensions with other major oil-importing countries as it locks up energy resources. China’s energy needs have led it to play a more prominent role in international markets in recent years. This has generated concerns about the potential impact on other countries’ energy security, and global and regional security generally. These are largely overstated, but China could take a number of steps, as its policymaking and implementation evolves, which would help create a more cooperative international environment on both energy and wider security issues.

  Chinese companies cannot dominate international oil supplies. They are small players outside of China, and the oil they bring online expands global supply, benefiting all consumers. The majority of oil they produce is sold on the open market, not shipped back to China. Furthermore, Beijing’s idea of energy security is showing signs of evolving from a mercantilist approach based on distrust of international markets, and therefore a desire for physical control of oil supplies, to a more open approach favouring international energy markets and cooperation. Chinese leaders are coming to understand that their state companies’ investments abroad have contributed far more to those companies’ profits than to improving the country’s energy security.

  See also a backgrounder from the Council on Foreign Relations on China, Africa, and Oil.

  » Read more
  • June 9, 2008 11:05 AM

• Quake Has Little Impact on China Coal Output

  

  From Xinhua:

  The massive earthquake that struck Sichuan Province on May 12 has had little impact on coal production in China, a senior official of the State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS) said Saturday.

  All 294 coal mines affected in the hard-hit southwestern province have halted production, Wang Shuhe, SAWS deputy director, told reporters here.

  Most of these mines were small, with 254 having annual output of less than 60,000 tons each, Wang noted. “China’s coal production, little affected by the quake, is still able to meet the demand.”

  Sichuan accounts for about 4 percent of the country’s coal output.

  » Read more
  • May 24, 2008 3:44 PM

• China Down to 12 Days Worth of Coal – Report

  

  China’s coal supply, the country’s most important energy resource, is shrinking and is now down to a seven-day supply in some areas, according to this report from News.com.au:

  In certain parts of China, such as densely populated Hebei province in the north, reserves are down to less than a week, Xinhua news agency reported, citing the China Electricity Regulatory Commission.

  In the period since early March, coal reserves have slumped by 12 per cent to 46.7 million tonnes, according to the commission.

  Reasons for the shortage were “multi-dimensional,” the commission was quoted as saying, without elaborating.

  See also a China Daily report.

  » Read more
  • April 23, 2008 9:35 AM

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