THE DRAGON IS RAVENOUS

China’s oil demand has doubled over the past decade, and the pace is only increasing. There will be ups and downs along the way: When the current infrastructure boom and the flood of foreign investment slow, energy demand will slow for a time also. But in the long run, the trend is inexorably steep. Consider this from The Economist (from “The Hungry Dragon,” September 2004):

“In around 20 years’ time, China’s income per person could be close to South Korea’s today. If its energy consumption per person also rose to current South Korean levels, its energy demand would quadruple.

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