China’s thirst for oil fuels potential global flashpoint

China’s growing thirst for oil will place a greater strain on the world’s top supplier, Saudi Arabia, at the very time doubts are being raised about the kingdom’s ability to substantially increase production.

Should output falter in Saudi Arabia and other Middle East nations, some analysts warn of growing tension – or even conflicts – over access to diminishing resources between China and the world’s biggest oil importers, the United States and Japan, unless alternative sources of energy are found.

..But even if China were to double in the next five years the foreign energy reserves it acquires for its own domestic use, it would meet only a fraction of its expanding oil appetite, experts who follow China’s oil industry say.

Ireland Online