China’s thirst for oil rattles old order

ZHENHAI, China – China’s surging appetite for energy is engraved in the landscape of this gritty port city: waterfront piles of coal, gas pipes snaking along grimy roads, and tankers anchored amid islands where pirates once lurked.

Zhenhai is at the heart of a global energy revolution.

As China’s leading oil receiving center, the city provides this nation of 1.3 billion people with hundreds of thousands of barrels of crude per day to feed its galloping economy.

The shifting pattern of energy consumption is rattling Washington and aggravating an already intense rivalry with neighboring Japan over access to oil and gas supplies, adding to tensions in an already volatile region.

AP