Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Russia and China agreed to terms for Russia’s membership in the World Trade Organization during top-level talks in Moscow on Friday, but both sides left unanswered questions about whether Russia was ready to guarantee stable oil supplies and boost oil and gas deliveries in the future to its energy-hungry neighbor.
India’s crude oil imports jumped by 23.3 % in July this year on increased demand for oil products, a senior Petroleum Ministry official said.
Andrew McKillop argues that up to a point, high oil prices can stimulate economies. However, ways must be found to rapidly decrease oil demand as leaving it to the market will necessarily lead to a new ‘Great Depression’.
A rising chorus of experts … offer[s] a dramatic solution for America’s energy woes. By boosting the efficiency of cars, homes, and offices, the United States could dramatically cut its reliance on foreign oil and forgo building many new power plants. The solution would not only be easier than drilling for more energy, it would be cheaper, these experts say.
Fuelling world prices, China’s crude oil imports jumped 37.4 per cent in August from the same month a year earlier to 9.33 million metric tons (70 million barrels), the government reports.
Since about 1999 per capita world average oil consumption is increasing. This recovery, after a long decline through about 1980-2000, has strong implications for potential oil demand, and potential annual growth of world oil demand as we enter the period immediately preceding ‘Peak Oil’.
Limited spare capacity means that the ability of oil producers to meet the sharpest rise in demand since the 1970s is likely to be severely tested, according to experts attending an OPEC-sponsored seminar in Vienna.
High prices are unlikely to erode India’s booming demand for oil and the country has stepped up negotiations with producer nations to secure its energy supplies, said oil minister Mani Shankar Aiyar.
World oil production will likely not be able to meet global demand as early as the middle of the next decade, according to a new study by Washington-based consultants PFC Energy.
Rising oil prices and pollution are fueling interest in green power in Asia but experts see no prospect of a rapid switch from the region’s growing dependence on oil, coal and gas.
Surely it is time that depletion was treated explicitly rather than being buried in the statistics?
A surge in Chinese and Indian oil demand that has helped push world prices to record highs is no passing phenomenon, analysts say.
