Interesting article from today’s Financial Times about China’s search for oil in Africa. It states: “Conventional wisdom suggests that China’s energy companies are marching across Africa, shoving aside established majors and grabbing huge oil reserves with the help of bottomless funding from Beijing.” “A closer look reveals a more nuanced picture: China’s giants have won … Read More
China
Chinese Ice Festival Suffers Due to Warming Climate
A famous ice festival in China, that attracts tens of thousands of tourists, appears to be the latest victim of rising global temperatures. The festival, in Harbin in the far northeast of China, has become the city’s biggest individual source of income since it was launched in 1985. But that income is under threat because … Read More
Sarkozy Warns China of Carbon Tariffs
Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, has warned China that the EU could penalise cheap imports from high carbon-emitting countries in order to defend European companies that are obliged to meet strict environmental standards. In a speech to students at Beijing’s Tsinghua University, Mr Sarkozy urged China to shoulder its environmental responsibilities as a global economic … Read More
China Seeks Arbitration in Ecuador Oil Row
Ecuador is the latest oil-producing country to try and renegotiate the terms and conditions over contracts, this time trying to impose a windfall tax on Chinese companies in the country. However the Chinese state oil firms are seeking international arbitration to try to overturn the move, arguing it threatens millions of dollars of investment in … Read More
China “Will Agree to Cut Emissions”
The world’s largest greenhouse-gas emitter, China, will agree to cut its soaring carbon dioxide emissions, one of the country’s leading environmentalists forecast yesterday. But it would only be on the basis of a deal with the United States and the rest of the developed world.
China: Pollution Causes Surge in Deformed Babies
China has acknowledged an alarming rise in birth defects, amid concern that heavy pollution is damaging the country’s children. Babies born with conditions such as cleft palates and extra fingers and toes now account for up to 6 per cent of births each year, according to statistics published yesterday.
Sudan Rebels Take Oil Hostages
A Darfur rebel group has claimed it has attacked a Sudanese oilfield in the Kordofan region, taking a Canadian and an Iraqi oil worker hostage, according to the BBC. The group, the Justice and Equality Movement (Jem), said it attacked the facility which is run by a Chinese-led consortium in the Defra oilfield.
China: Coal to Oil in 2008
Stupid Idea One. China’s largest coal company Shenhua Group will produce China’s first barrel of oil fuel from coal in 2008 using technology known as direct coal liquefaction. “We have finished 95 percent of the engineering projects at the first production line in Erdos of north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The line will start … Read More
Venezuela and China Plan $10 Billion Heavy Oil Venture
Petroleos de Venezuela SA, the state-owned oil company, and China National Petroleum Corp will invest over $10 billion to produce oil in the Faja del Orinoco region and refine at least some of it in China. The venture may produce as much as a million barrels a day, Rafael Ramirez, the minister of energy and … Read More
China Increases Hold On Kazakh Oil
China is undertaking a buying spree of oil and gas assets in oil rich Kazachstan. A year and a half ago, China’s state oil company CNPC became the main shareholder of PetroKazakhstan in a $4.2bn deal. From petrol stations to refineries and now even a 1,000km (620 mile) long pipeline, the first one ever to … Read More