U.S. Gas Prices to Remain High; Chinese Oil Imports Rise 11%

Robert Farago
by Robert Farago

Those who claim that the current price of oil is a supply – demand deal have some new ammo. Industrialinfo.com reports that The People's Republic of China imported 90.53 million tons of crude oil in the first half of 2008, up 11 percent over the same period last year. And you know all those dollars we send over to China to build the cheap stuff we buy at Wal-Mart? A big chunk of that went to "Angora, Saudi Arabia and Iran" [sic]. "The value of imported oil rose to $64.98 billion, representing a dramatic 85.8% increase in costs." Although China exports some oil (2.37m barrels worth $1.42b), experts reckon the percentage of imported oil will continue to rise. The only possible brake on Chinese oil consumption: the lowering of government subsidies. The New York Times pegs that number at $40b per annum. So far, nothing much happening on that front. All of which means the current status is likely to remain quo.

Robert Farago
Robert Farago

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  • Anonymous Anonymous on Jul 28, 2008

    Why would they export any oil if they are also importing it? Are they exporting high sulfur oil and importing low sulfur or vice-versa?

  • Joeaverage Joeaverage on Jul 28, 2008

    http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/koppel/koppel.html A good watch. Turn off the audio if you like and just look at the cities and hordes of people. Is it any wonder that we're competing with them? I have no interest in funding the Chinese gov't. I have no problems with the people though. Was proud to say that my wife and son were able to buy American made school supplies - some of it - last night. Didn't think any of that was still made here. Wish there was a list of American goods somewhere on the web that would link the consumer to the goods and the retailers. There you go - a business for somebody - the "Made in the USA" store. Everything sold there is made in the USA.

  • Mdf Mdf on Jul 28, 2008
    Those who claim that the current price of oil is a supply - demand deal have some new ammo. Old news: http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2008/06/11/china-oil-consumption-jumps/ Also, the argument doesn't follow either. 11% of the ~4.4Mbbl/day China imports is +0.481 Mbbl/day. The latest EIA numbers for the USA show a yearly decrease in consumption in excess of a million barrels per day: http://peakoildebunked.blogspot.com/ "That's a year-on-year drop in U.S demand of 1,103,000 barrels/day."
  • Jurisb Jurisb on Jul 28, 2008

    Demand and supply is just words. It doesn`t work for indispensable goods. Just look at the amount of construction work going on in Dubai. besides Burj Dubai, they are doing site prep for a mile! high tower, formerly known as Al Burj. Will be built by Nakheel. here we can see when some countries using consumers helplessness swim in cash! Right, Chinas consumption has increased, that is why , we, unfortunately have to generate mind boggling profits, from year to year. Right. Hitler would simply liquify the whole Arabian penninsula. And I wouldn`t mind.

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