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Page added on April 3, 2013
China to Surpass U.S. as World’s Top Crude Importer, OPEC Says
China is on course to overtake the U.S. as the world’s top crude importer by 2014, as the Asian country’s growing refining capacity boosts demand and America’s fracking boom cuts the need for foreign oil, OPEC said today.
Imports to China may surpass 6 million barrels a day by the end of this year, according to an e-mailed report from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. U.S. oil imports declined 21 percent last year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Shipments may drop below 6 million a day in 2014, according to OPEC.
“People have been anticipating this for the better part of a decade,” said Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy & Economic Research in Winchester, Massachusetts. “The Chinese top leadership, and especially the military, worries a lot about their energy import dependence. It’s not clear how high it will go but it will certainly keep rising for the foreseeable future.”
China’s imports rose 1.3 percent in December to 5.57 million barrels a day, OPEC said. The country may meet 60 percent of its oil needs with foreign crude this year, according to the report.
The U.S. produced 84 percent of its own energy last year as advances in horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, unlocked oil and gas trapped in deep underground rock formations, EIA data show. Domestic crude output reached 7.159 million barrels a day last month, the most since July 1992.
One Comment on "China to Surpass U.S. as World’s Top Crude Importer, OPEC Says"
BillT on Thu, 4th Apr 2013 2:21 am
The Us cannot afford oil. Fraking is about maxed out and then the real declines will begin. All the sweet spots have been pumped already.
If China used as much oil per capita as the Us it would already be importing 4 times as much as the US. Currently it is using about 1/4 as much per person. Gasoline in 2014? $6? $8? $10?