Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: China, energy, oil, putin, riyadh, Saudi Arabia
From Zerohedge.com:
In short, if John Kerry and Riyadh did in fact plan to bankrupt the Russians by tanking crude prices, the effort was a miserable failure that resulted not only in a 20% fiscal deficit for the Saudis, but the destruction of American jobs in the oil patch.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: chicken jerky, chicken nuggets, China, Chinese chicken, USDA, what came first, where are chicken nuggets made?
(NEWSER) – The US Department of Agriculture quietly announced on Friday that it had approved four Chinese poultry plants to ship processed chicken into the US. It’s no wonder it tried to sneak that news onto the eve of a long weekend, notes Bloomberg: China has a dodgy reputation for food safety, with repeated outbreaks of avian flu and the New York Times reports that Chinese-made chicken jerky recently killed hundreds of US dogs. So it’s a little worrying that these processing plants will operate without USDA inspectors, and the agency does not require point-of-origin labeling, so American consumers will not know where their chicken comes from.
via Soon to Be Made in China: Your Chicken Nuggets – But that won't be on the label….
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: ANE, China, China oil consumption, China oil imports, Chindia, crude oil, peak oil, The Yergin Gap, westtexas, Yergin
“China is importing an increasing amount of crude, which is the most crucial issue for the country’s energy supply,” said Zhang during the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference
And the most crucial issue for the world’s energy supply too.
One way to look at it is that we in the west are being outbid by people in Asia for available oil exports. The price is high because if it were any lower people would want to consume more than can currently be produced.
via China depends more on overseas oil |Economy |chinadaily.com.cn.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: carbon dioxide emissions, China, Chindia, climate, CO2, Econbrowser, James Hamilton, natural gas liquids, NGLs, oil consumption, Peak Demand, peak oil, total liquids, transportation
And it’s worth remembering why that happened– we didn’t have a choice. Global field production of crude oil (excluding natural gas liquids, which are not used as transportation fuel) stagnated at about 74 million barrels/day between 2005 and 2008. It is up a couple of million barrels since then, but more than 100% of this increase has been consumed by China alone, forcing the U.S. and other countries to reduce our oil consumption.
via James Hamilton: Econbrowser: Declining U.S. carbon dioxide emissions.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: CH4, China, Chindia, CO2, coal, electricity, energy, India, Peak Smart, power plants
Forgetting to start our renewable energy project.
Global demand for coal is expected to grow to 8.9 billion tons by 2016 from 7.9 billion tons this year. China is expected to add about 160 new coal-fired plants to the 620 operating now, within four years. During that period, India will add more than 46 plants.
Oh well.
Filed under: maps, Uncategorized | Tags: al Qaeda, AQIM, China, coup, France, Germany, Libya, Mali, Qaddafi, realpolitik, Sanogo, Taureg, Toure, UN
click to enlarge
By no means unknown…
Former president Touré, who came to power in a coup in 1991, enjoyed US military and economic support for many years. According to figures released by the US government, Washington backed Mali with $138 million in 2011 and planned to increase its support to $170 million in 2012. A joint military manoeuvre between US forces and the Mali army took place in January.
The new ruler is by no means unknown to the US government. Sanogo took part in language training courses in Texas from August 2004 until February 2005. In 2007, he was schooled by the US Secret Service and trained as an infantry officer in Georgia for five months.
It is quite possible that Sanogo’s coup was arranged in cooperation with the US government. However, imperialist forces will not be happy with the result because Mali’s north is still in the hands of the insurgents. A future UN intervention supported by the US cannot be excluded, because for Washington, Mali is particularly important from the standpoint of containing Chinese influence in Africa.
Just as the international intervention in Libya was aimed in part at denying China access to North African oil, a military intervention in Mali in cooperation with the US would target Chinese influence in the country.
This influence has grown in recent years. Chinese direct investments in Mali increased 300-fold from 1995 to 2008. Mali ranks with Zambia, South Africa and Egypt among African countries where China has made its largest investments.
In addition to the United States, France also has an intense interest in its former colony, and is just waiting to “rescue” the country’s cultural heritage with a military intervention backed by the UN Security Council. ….
Map and text via http://mediarevolution-amat.blogspot.com/2012/08/western-powers-preparing-intervention.html
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Alberta, Canada, China, ECA, Encana, energy, energy security, PetroChina
PetroChina Co. (857) agreed to pay Encana Corp. (ECA) C$1.18 billion ($1.2 billion) for a 49.9 percent stake in an Alberta shale formation as Asia’s biggest oil producer steps up acquisitions of overseas oil and gas assets.
via PetroChina Pays $1.2 Billion to Form Encana Joint Venture – Bloomberg.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: bitumen, Canada, Canadian oil production, China, CNOOC, heavy oil, Nexen, oil sands, Petroliam Nasional, Petronas, Progress, Stephen Harper, Suncor, tar sands, unconventional oil
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper approved Cnooc Ltd. (883)’s $15.1 billion takeover of Nexen Inc. (NXY) and Petroliam Nasional Bhd.’s C$5.2 billion ($5.2 billion) takeover of Progress Energy Resources Corp. (PRQ)
via Canada Approves Both Cnooc-Nexen, Petronas-Progress Deals – Bloomberg.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: biology, China, Chinese energy production, energy, energy production, fracking, oil production, peak oil, water, water pollution
Everyone knows that oil and gas are more important than water. Right?
If fracking takes off in China as planned, it will likely exacerbate the nation’s existing water crisis. “Most of the nation’s shale gas lies in areas plagued by water shortages,” the report says. With about 20 percent of the world’s population and only 6 percent of the world’s water resources, China is one of the least water-secure countries in the world. Its water shortages are made worse by pollution: According to the Ministry of Water Resources about 40 percent of China’s rivers were so polluted they were deemed unfit for drinking, while about 300 million rural residents lack access to safe drinking water each year.
via China planning 'huge fracking industry' | Environment | guardian.co.uk.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: China, CNOOC, energy independence, energy security, Nexen, peak oil, tar sands
BEIJING- The chairman of China’s CNOOC Ltd. said Friday that he was confident that the state-controlled oil giant’s proposed $15.1 billion buyout of Canada’s Nexen Inc. would be completed by the end of the year.
via RIGZONE – CNOOC Chairman: Confident Nexen Deal Will Be Completed by Year-End.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: China, energy, fracking, good cop-bad cop, jobs, LNG, LNG exports, LNG trade, Natural gas, natural gas trade movements, Obomney, OMG, RBAC, Robama, shale gas, tight gas, trade deficit
“We are confident that either one would be supportive of LNG exports,” Cooper told Rigzone.
U.S. LNG imports, which peaked at nearly 2.4 billion cubic feet per day in 2007, have fallen substantially as the growth in North American gas production due to shale gas, according to an Oct. 18 report by RBAC Inc., a company that develops and licenses management decision support systems for the energy industry. As a result, LNG facility backers are now seeking to outfit existing U.S. LNG import facilities with liquefaction equipment to ship LNG overseas.
Proponents say U.S. LNG exports will benefit the United States by creating construction jobs, and generate revenue to reduce the U.S. trade deficit through LNG sales and federal, state and local government tax revenues.
via RIGZONE – Romney, Obama Seen Favoring U.S. LNG Exports.
Know what else creates jobs and generates revenues? Cheap domestic gas. Exporting gas which would otherwise be flooding the U.S. market would raise the price for Americans. This would probably destroy a lot more jobs than would be created to build and maintain LNG terminals. The job-creation argument goes out the window.
In the meantime, the negative consequences of energy production would accrue right here in America.
Are western Americans willing to sacrifice their water so international companies can frack their shale gas and ship it to China? Robomney bets yes.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: China, Chinese coal production, climate, CO2 production, coal, EIA, energy, global coal production, global warming, peak oil
The rise in global production over the past decade is almost entirely due to Chinese production…
via the EIA via http://www.theoildrum.com/node/9485
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Athabasca Oil Sands, bitumen, Canada, Canadian oil sands, China, CNOOC, energy, foreign control of tar sands, Foreign Investment Review Act, Jeff Rubin, Nexen, oil production, oil sands, PetroChina, Petronas, syncrude, tar sands, unconventional oil
Recall that American consumers are (strongly) encouraged to think of Canadian production as domestic production.
CNOOC’s blockbuster deal for Nexen, if nothing else, is a stark indication of how far the goal posts have moved not only for Canada’s oil patch, but also for world oil demand. Only four or five years ago, the notion that a state-owned Chinese company could buy—lock, stock and barrel of bitumen—one of Canada’s premier oil names was politically unthinkable. Any such deal was sure to be turned down by Ottawa under its Foreign Investment Review Act (not to mention the hue and cry that would come from Alberta’s provincial government).
Today, that’s all changed. CNOOC’s $15-billion offer for Nexen follows a number of major foreign transactions in Canada’s energy sector. Among others, Malaysian energy giant Petronas is paying $5.5-billion to get at Progress Energy’s natural gas reserves in British Columbia. Earlier this year, PetroChina completed a two-pronged deal for Athabasca Oil Sands Corp. that tallied $2.5-billion. In 2010, Sinopec paid $4.65-billion for a 9 percent stake in Syncrude, which runs Alberta’s largest oilsands mine.
via CNOOC’s Nexen Bid Shows How Far Goal Posts Have Moved | Jeff Rubin.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Chesapeake, Chesapeake Energy, China, energy, energy independence, energy security, Natural gas, shale gas, shale oil, Sinopec Fu Chengyu, tight gas
All part of America’s new ‘energy security.’
Fu Chengyu, chairman of Sinopec Corp, was in Oklahoma last week to explore the possibility of a bid for a shale gas project, which is owned by Chesapeake Energy, the second largest shale gas producer in the US, Reuters reported.
via China's Sinopec eyes shale gas assets in US | China Economic Review.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: China, Chinese oil imports, fuel oil, IHS, Iran, Iran oil exports, Iran oil trade, PetroChina, Poten, Tianbao, Zhuhai Zhenrong
But…but…
Zhuhai Zhenrong Co., the Chinese company censured by the U.S. in January for trading with Iran, provisionally hired an oil tanker to carry fuel oil from the Persian Gulf nation, shipping data showed.
Tianbao, a unit of state-owned Zhuhai Zhenrong, chartered the Khorfakkan to load 80,000 metric tons on May 15 from the Iranian port of Bandar Mahshahr, according to three shipbrokers including Poten & Partners Inc. in New York. The Liberia-flagged vessel is under way in the Persian Gulf, transmissions captured by IHS Inc. (IHS) on Bloomberg show.
Fuel oil is a residual product of refining used for power generation and as shipping fuel. […]
via Bloomberg: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-04/china-s-zhuhai-zhenrong-books-may-fuel-oil-shipment-from-iran.html
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: China, Hugo Chavez, PDVSA, Rafael Ramirez, Venezuela
Venezuela will construct three oil refineries in China, the state-run Venezuelan oil company PDVSA said, quoting Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez.
“Our goal is to give an impetus to Venezuela’s energy cooperation with Asian countries, which is in line with President Hugo Chavez’s policies aimed at building a multipolar world and diversifying the oil market,” Ramirez was quoted as saying.
via Venezuela to Construct 3 Oil Refineries in China | Business | RIA Novosti.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Bridgestone, China, cobalt-60, Japan, MEXT, radiation, Saitama
Uh huh. Cobalt-60 radiation detected from Bridgestone bike’s basket by the bike’s owner in Japan. Leads to wider discovery. The baskets were made in China.
http://ex-skf.blogspot.com/2012/04/bicycle-baskets-imported-from-china.html
It was first reported to Bridgestone by a buyer of the bicycle, alerting the company that the basket attached to the bicycle was emitting radiation. Bridgestone had the baskets tested, and found the source of radiation to be cobalt-60. The baskets were imported from China, according to Bridgestone.
From the press release by the Ministry of Education and Science (MEXT) on April 18, 2012:
Report from Bridgestone Cycle Company to MEXT at about 4:10PM on April 17 that radiation was detected from the baskets installed on the bicycles that the company sells.
The bicycles were assembled at the Ageo Factory [in Saitama Prefecture].
7.5 to 10.6 microsieverts/hour radiation was detected on the surface of the baskets at 1 centimeter.
…
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: AIS, China, China oil imports, Daily Star, energy, global oil trade, India, Iran, Iran oil, Iran oil exports, Iran oil production, Iran sanctions
It has long been assumed Iran would sell most of the oil shunned by Europe to China, its long-term strategic and commercial ally. But until now there has been scant proof.
India, however, has been buying oil on Iranian ships on extended credit for several months, industry sources say.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: air supply, available net exports, China, Chinese oil production, Darwinian, net exports, Oil Drum, oil production, oil supply
From a comment by “Darwinian” on the Oil Drum.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: available net exports, China, China oil imports, India, India oil imports, Iran, Iran oil exports, Iran sanctions, Iranian oil
Closer relations between Iran, India and China; creation of new financial networks to bypass the West. The inability to control Iran through non-military means may make military action more likely.
NEW DELHI, MARCH 28:
India and China on Wednesday indicated that they will continue to maintain normal relations with Iran, while citing high crude oil prices and energy security concerns.
The Chinese Commerce Minister, Mr Chen Deming, said China respects all the United Nations resolutions.
However, in a veiled reference to the US sanctions on Iran, he added that Beijing is not obliged to follow the domestic rules and regulations of any particular country.
Industrialized Cyclist Notepad 