What is the Chinese government's energy strategy to guarantee its energy requirements and its dynamic growth rate?

Résumé du document

Some energies are essential to develop economies and industries of developed countries since the industrial revolution: coal, gas and oil. 90 % of the world consumption is based on these energies. Several factors involve that countries need more and more of these energies: high technologies, car industry etc. Developed countries need more energies to control their economy and stabilize their inflation. This is an essential factor to control energy supply in order to be able to compete on the world market. Controlling energy supply is also important, within a geopolitical framework. Countries operate in a competitive world where resources are limited but the needs are unlimited. There are many actors which are playing in the quest for energy. First of all, there are countries, oil producing countries, exporters, importers etc. There are also state companies or private corporations. The issues are so important that it can involve wars and conflicts because of the need of resources. Let's check who the main players of this game are.

Firstly there is an important factor to take into account, most of the energies are situated in one area: the Middle East. This region has an exclusive role-play because it contains 65 % of the oil world resources. Besides, the oil producing countries such as Saudi Arabia have created an association in order to gather their strength and become better organized for the oil trade: this is the OPEC (The Organization of the Petroleum exporting Countries). The organization's goal is to watch the cartel's interests individually and collectively. It also aims to ensure the stabilization of the prices. We can say that the OPEC members concentrate 62% of the oil resources and 49% of the gas resources. So you must have good relation with the organization to ensure your supply. There are also other areas that possess oil and gas resources like Russia, Venezuela and many countries in Africa (Libya, Sudan, Angola, and Guinea).

Since the beginning of the 21st century, the world consumption is about 9 billion each year, and the demand is still increasing. We can cay that there are huge disparities in this figure as you can see on the graph. We know that the biggest consumers are the developed countries such as USA, Japan, Germany or France. But there have been new players on the horizon since the beginning of the 21st century.

Extraits

[...] Both parts agreed to operate the pipeline which will transport bpd from Alberta oil sand to a port on the west coast of British Columbia. That way China will be able to bring oil directly via tankers. Petrochina does not own all the rights on the pipeline but is expected to use half of the pipeline capacity which represents bpd. We can think about how the United States react to the increasing Chinese's investments in Canada. We ask ourselves this question because both countries are close in terms of politic and business. [...]

[...] Butts, B. Bankus China's Pursuit of Africa's Natural Resources Capital of Angola www.southasiaanalysis.org [100] P. Hatemi, A. Wedeman Oil and Conflict in Sino-American Relations [101] P. Hatemi, A. Wedeman Oil and Conflict in Sino-American Relations [102] http://www.time.com [103] John B. Alterman, John W. Garver The Vital Triangle : China, the United States and The Middle East [104] John B. Alterman, John W. Garver The Vital Triangle : China, the United States and The Middle East [105] John B. Alterman, John W. [...]

[...] It seems that Beijing did not well enough supported its company which is normally the case. Beijing and Washington have a different situation in Middle East. The Unites States are present there since a while. Saudi Arabia is the biggest oil producer and the USA is the biggest oil importer. According to analysts percent of the Saudi foreign direct investments go to the United States. I might add that these revenues help Washington to finance the US trade deficit with Saudi Arabia. [...]

[...] But this is the case and Beijing is accused of providing weapons to the Sudanese government. China and Sudan have a long common history. In 1959, Sudan was the fourth country to recognize the People's Republic of China[90]. At the beginning, the relation was more about military stuff and training. In 1972, China offered military equipments including eight MIG 17 fighter aircraft and ten tanks. Trade between both parts remained low but it began to increase at the beginning of the 1990s. [...]

[...] This policy is also led by the government that organizes lot of multilateral meetings with African countries for example. These two factors have permitted to China to compete with the “giant companies“ like Exxon Mobil or Total on the international oil field. These strategies have allowed Chinese's companies to create great relationships with high resources areas but it has also made Western countries wondered about Chinese's methods. The fact that the Chinese's government is involved is business agreements is not seen as fair by other countries. It has geopolitical consequences. [...]