China oil imports surge 30%

Yep! They're driving 4x4's and RV's in China ... no more sanpans & rickshaws. So much for any dent being made in demand, that tar sands and the like will make. Not when the industrialized world depends on larger & larger amounts of fuel. You got to give it to Dr. Marion King Hubbert ... predicting the end of cheep oil way back in the 1950's. It's so pathetic it almost makes you laugh. Some folks still deny the irresistable force coming onto the landscape. Pretty tough to make much of a plan with that kind of mentality being so prevalent.

 

A lot of that oil is for industrial manufacturing.
To make toilet bowl brushes and coffee makers to export to the USA.

 

Yes - but oil is a global commodity, and China is ready willing and able to outbid others for contracts:

The Twilight of the Western Oil Majors - By Lisa Viscidi | Foreign Policy

As we outsource manufacturing (ergo our toxic pollution) more & more, China's needs will be to continue to buy more & more fuel ... for their manufacturing, as well as for their own personal use.

 

Uh, no. China is reporting that it's imports have surged well over 30% for the first 4 months of 2010. That's total imports - not just imports from Kuwait. China is importing oil at record levels.

To imply that China's oil consumption will not have any effect on oil/gas prices in the USA is absurd.

 

The Chinese are starting to make major investments in Tar Sands and the methane clathrates in the North. But that remains to be seen if they expect to have sole access to the product, or just are shrewd and want a good return on their investment

 

It will be "interesting" to see how things pan out in the near future. Assuming that China and India's oil consumption increases and as economies "recover", it seems very likely that oil prices will increase accordingly.

I wonder where they will settle out over the summer and beyond.

 

China's new automobile market is already bigger than the USA's.

China's CO2 emissions exceeded the USA's 3 years ago.

China's coal consumption is also up about 30% so far this year, too (longer term is growing about 7-8%/year).

There's no way around it - the next 5-10 years will be extremely critical for the world in terms of energy supply. All the easy energy (fossil fuels) are quickly running low. The easy oil is already insufficient in supply. The current rate of consumption of both oil and coal is unsustainable. China will soon run out of easy coal (within the next 20 years) - they are already importing a large amount of coal from Australia - look for us to start supplying them large amounts of coal as well.

 

If this happens I will buy a ford hybrid.

Toyotas reputation is in the toilet

 

I am pretty sure this is all tongue-in-cheek, however, it is interesting to look at the big picture in this way.
Considering how much of the US debt is held by China, I suspect China will bring down the US if they go down, without firing a shot.

But once the easy oil is gone and demand outstrips supply, I would expect armed conflict to break out in the Middle East, possibly South America as well.
Also, if things get really desperate, I could see China making a military move into Russia.

Interesting times we live in.

 

i think that china increasing oil imports is a good thing. what we need is a near immediate rise of prices over $4 a gallon which has been demonstrated in the past to exceed the threshold of pain for americans.

this will force us to move faster to adopt renewables and EV's. meanwhile, china; now paying a much higher gas bill will cause their imports to the US to rise in cost making them much less attractive and encourage Americans to buy American again

 

Behind the news cycle there cousin Tony. Sichuan Tengzhong has not received regulatory approval to buy. Such decisions are not revised around here, it seems to me.

Most likely is that the Hummer brand will just go away. The imported oil went into other brand vehicles, which are increasing rapidly in number.

 

Even the Chinese were to wise to buy the Hummer line. They looked & looked ... then ran out of the bargaining room screaming, just thinking how quick Hummer would finish off their prospective fuel sources.

 

that would be a good thing, too. The more successful middle class folks there are in MEX the better. In the end all mfg will be local as wages equilibrate. If will be interesting to see if the Chinese continue down our path or pull their heads out.

 

Buy oil stocks!