Sept. 11- China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has released a notice on its website immediately banning converting coal to liquid fuels (CTL) projects except those by Shenhua, the country’s largest coal producer and a joint venture between Shenhua and South Africa’s Sasol.

As far back as 2006, the agency had already issued a warning against investing in large CTL projects.

CTL is a profitable investment because of high petroleum prices compared to cheaper coal although the process wastes vast amounts of water and releases more carbon dioxide.

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June 26 - China overtook Japan as the world’s second-largest crude oil importer in May, importing 16.18 tons of crudel (3.81 million bpd), an increase of 25 percent from a year ago.

“It’s a symbol of the era,” Akira Kamiyama told Forbes, derivatives trader at Mitsui & Co. “Japan’s imports will be capped, but China’s imports will grow fast, with no end in sight.” China’s imports are growing quickly as double-digit economic growth and low, state-set domestic fuel prices drive demand in the world’s most populous nation.

Analysts expect China’s crude imports to get support from this month onward after Beijing’s surprise decision to raise gasoline and diesel prices by nearly a fifth last week revived refining margins, encouraging them to step up production.

China’s announcement this month that it would speed up building commercial oil reserves to cope with turbulence in the oil market should help support China’s imports, Kamiyama added. (more…)

April 16 – China announced that value-added tax on gasoline and diesel imported by China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec) between April 1 and June 30 will qualify for a 17 percent tax refund in the second quarter. The move aims to relieve CNPC and Sinopec’s refining loses and ensures that the local market is supplied with adequate refined oil products.

“The tax rebate will reduce the refining losses of CNPC and Sinopec to some extent,” Zheng Zhiguo, an energy analyst with Shenyin Wanguo Securities told China Daily, “But the amount is small and cannot fully cover the losses.”

The Ministry of Finance detailed that CNPC tax imports on 500,000 tons of gasoline and one million tons of diesel will be refunded as well as Sinopec’s imports of 500,000 tons of gasoline and 1.5 million tons of diesel. (more…)

Mar. 31 - China processed more crude oil in the first two months of 2008 to ease supply shortages throughout the country.

China processed 55.81 million tons of crude oil in January and February, a 7.4 percent increase from the same period last year the National Development and Reform Commission said on Friday.

Output of gasoline and diesel surged 4.1 percent and 12.5 percent, respectively. Natural gas production expanded by 20.3 percent.

According to the NDRC, the country’s crude oil output hit 30.78 million tons in January and February, up 1.2 percent year on year, while imports shot up 9.5 percent to 28.23 million tons. (Xinhua)

By Andy Scott

Mar. 24 - China’s largest oilfield, Daqing, increased its setimated output target to 40 million tons annually in the coming decade.

The Daqing oilfield produced 41.7 million tones of oil in 2007, slightly above the target of 41.62 million tons Xinhua reported.

The oilfield’s change in output target is related to China’s rising thirst for oil. In 2007 alone, the country imported 163.17 million tons of oil, a 47 percent increase from the mid-nineties according to the National Bureau of Statistics. At current rates of growth in consumption, China will need to import about two-thirds of its total oil requirement by 2015.

The Chinese government, which has long viewed dependency on foreign oil as a strategic weakness, is quite concerned about its declining domestic production of fossil fuel energy. It has actively sought to better exploit its current domestic resources and encourage oil and mineral exploration in its territory. PetroChina’s announcement last year of the discovery of the Bohai Bay oil field that could reach 10 million tons a year by 2010 could not have come at a better time for the oil thirsty country. (more…)

Mar. 24 - China’s largest oil refiner Sinopec and Germany-based BASF officially submitted a planned US$900 million project extension at its joint venture in Nanjing for review by the Chinese authorities on March 19.

The project, enlarging the annual production volumes of ethylene pyrolysis at Yangtsi-BASF from 600,000 tons to 750,000 tons, represents BASF’s largest petrochemical project outside Germany according to a report issued by the Ministry of Commerce.

BASF plans to tap China’s rising demand for ethylene as the country looks to more than double production capacity of the chemical by 2010. Currently imports account of half of the country’s ethylene needs.

“The completion of the feasibility study marks an important step forward,” said Wang Tianpu, president of Sinopec.

Jan. 14 - China’s crude oil imports rose 12.4 percent in 2007 over the previous year to a record 163.17 million tons, according to customs figures.

Crude oil imports for 2006 were 138.8 million tons, representing an increase of 16.9 percent from the previous year. Exports, however, fell 38.7 percent year-on-year to 3.89 million tons last year, according to the General Administration of Customs.

Crude oil exports were valued at US$79.77 billion, 20.1 percent higher than a year earlier amid international oil price hikes. Global prices surged about 57 percent throughout 2007. (more…)

This is the second in a series of articles that looks at China’s borders. As China has grown in the last 30 years, so have the often complicated relationships it has with its many varied neighbors. In this article, we take a look at Kazakhstan.

By Joyce Roque

“The main thing is to make history, not to write it.”
-Otto Von Bismarck

Dec. 18 - Just like the spice trade of yore where adventurers dared flinging themselves in the uncharted world for the sake of country and above all for the business of spice, it seems China is no different with the lure of spice replaced by the hunt for oil. China is the second largest importer of oil in the world with a mission to lay the groundwork for stabilizing its energy security in the future. (more…)

By Andy Scott and Lucy Brady 

Nov. 2 - The Methane to Markets Partnership Expo that concluded yesterday in Beijing was a chance for China, fast becoming the world’s largest polluter, to grab some favorable press and promote alternative energy resources in a city where the air-quality is still a thorny issue for the upcoming Olympics.

The three day expo, co-hosted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), was the largest Methane to Market Expo to date and attracted more than 700 participants from 34 countries meeting to discuss alternative ways to decrease methane output while harnessing the gas as an alternative energy source.

Methane, the primary component of natural gas, is 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide and accounts for 16 percent of current greenhouse gas emissions. However, because methane only stays in the environment for roughly 12 years, action taken now would have drastic, visible results in pollution reduction in the coming years. The expo was a chance to showcase the latest technologies and educate countries about the capture and use of methane. It was also a chance for potential investors to meet vendors and developers. (more…)

By Andy Scott 

Part one: The oilmen cometh

I couldn’t help asking him once what he meant by coming there at all. “To make money, of course. What do you think?” he said, scornfully. Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness.

Foreign governments have been attracted to Africa for more than two centuries, greedily pursuing the continents’ timber, minerals and oil, more often than not at the cost of the people living there. Today it’s China that is most interested in Africa’s natural resources, leading critics to accuse the rising economic powerhouse of neo-colonialism.

Much has been said lately about China’s courtship of Africa. From Sudan and Darfur to the China-Africa Cooperation Forum, the growing Chinese presence in Africa illustrates Beijing’s desire to increase their global influence and create, as The Jamestown Foundation says, “a paradigm of globalization that favors China.” China has long portrayed itself as the leader of the third world, and as the country’s influence increases with its gross domestic product figures, Beijing has sought to cultivate its relationships with African nations, hoping to position itself better in the multi-polar, post-cold war world.

In this three part series, we will look at China’s emerging relationship with Africa - from oil and aid to soft diplomacy and African investment on the mainland. Part one looks at China’s chief import from the continent, oil. (more…)