China to Rival Opec
The International Energy Agency was quoted yesterday saying that for the first time China is poised to become an oil producer to rival Opec members such as the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait.
Having rivalled international oil producers for years, China’s collected NOCs CNOOC, Sinopec & CNPC have now grown to compete with the Opec countries.
Its state-owned oil companies spent a record $35 bn (£23.1 bn) buying foreign rivals last year.
Seth Kleinman, Global Head of Energy Strategy at Citigroup, told the Today programme: “China has about 3% of global oil reserves within its own territories and right now it’s right now at about 10% and growing of global oil demand, so they’re going to have to look abroad.
“But is it really something to be terribly concerned about? Not really, if you look at the context of other big oil powers, like the US, the UK, Russia, everyone’s looking abroad. You have to go abroad to find your resources.”
Do you think China is poised to compete with other oil producing nations?
What do these developments mean for the global oil industry?
Let us know your thoughts by commenting below.
Alternatively if you’d like to learn more about oil companies or specifically the activity of NOCS why not attend our event World National Oil Companies Congress.
at 4:38 pm
China to rival OPEC is an interesting article, however, there is another side to it. While China produces 3% of the total oil in the world their domestic consumption is much higher and that is a key factor. China is a country on a massive growth and it makes China an energy hungry country. Bulk of the production in-house and outside the country is to secure the energy future of the country and to mitigate the risks. With 10% Share in International Oil Production they hardly meet their own requirements. It still remains to be seen how the industry goes in future and how much Shale Gas potential in China is actually realized to free the oil reserves.