1. PRC Energy Strategy
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory China Energy Group (J. Sinton et al, “EVALUATION OF CHINA’S ENERGY STRATEGY OPTIONS,” May 2005) released this report as prepared for the China Sustainable Energy Program. The report “prioritizes energy policy goals, reviews the role of the state in achieving them, and provides specific recommendations for key energy subsectors.” The authors discuss three main ideas for movement toward action: “increased investment in energy efficiency in conjunction with energy exploration, infrastructure and environmental protection, restructured incentives to favor production and consumption of cleaner energy, and strengthened institutions for governing the nation’s energy system.”
Read report.
2. NE Asia Energy Cooperation
The Institute of Energy Economics, Japan (Kensuke Kanekiyo, Managing Director, “ENERGY OUTLOOK OF CHINA AND NORTHEAST ASIA AND JAPANESE PERCEPTION TOWARD REGIONAL ENERGY PARTNERSHIP, and “October 2005) released this paper in response to recent resource inflation and worldwide shortage. The report reviews the “energy situation of China and Northeast Asia and discuss[es] [the] direction of …energy cooperation among these countries.” The author recommends a number of actions to ensure regional energy security including: a joint response on supply distribution; creation of a region-wide energy market; investment in resources, transportation market, and energy processing facilities; and technology development and transfer.
Read report.
3. Geopolitics of Oil
Real Instituto Elcano (Pablo Bustelo, “CHINA AND THE GEOPOLITICS OF OIL IN THE ASIAN PACIFIC REGION,” 05/09/2005) released this report by Senior Analyst Pablo Bustelo . The paper “first of all presents an overview of China’s energy sector, emphasizing the strong growth in its energy demand to date and its potential for future growth. Secondly, [Bustelo] look[s] at the oil sector, highlighting China’s growing dependence on imports. The third part deals with the Chinese perception of energy security in the oil sector. Finally, the fourth part focuses on the geopolitical implications for the Asia Pacific region of China’s search for oil.”
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4. International Oil Prices
German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) (G. Metschies, “INTERNATIONAL FUEL PRICES 2005,” 2005) released this report of world fuel prices. “The study, International Fuel Prices 2005 (4th Edition), contains diesel prices and gasoline prices of 172 countries from Nov. 2004 as well as time series of prices from 1991 – 2004. The study also focuses on fuel pricing (fuel taxation, fuel subsidies) and fuel contraband.”
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5. PRC Oil Imports
Xinhua News Agency (An Bei, “CHINA FOCUS: CHINA’S OIL IMPORT GROWTH CONTINUES TO FALL IN 2006, OFFICIAL,” November 18, 2005, Beijing) reported that China will import less oil and oil products in 2006 than previous years, an official with the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said recently. According to statistics, PRC imported 105 million tons of crude oil in the first ten months of this year, rising 5.7 percent year on year, and 25.69 million tons of refined oil, down 16 percent from a year ago. It is estimated that PRC will import 130 million tons of crude oil in 2005, rising only six percent year on year. This means the rate of growth of oil imports has dropped 30 percent, said Lu.
6. California in PRC
China Daily (“CALIFORNIA URGES CLOSER ENERGY TIES,” November 16, 2005) reported that California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said [November 15] that his state is willing to enhance co-operation with PRC to develop clean and renewable sources of energy and increase energy efficiency. Declaring that the two nations face the same challenge in providing safe and abundant energy for the future, the governor said it is necessary to find new ways to produce and consume energy to sustain the economies and environment.
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7. PRC Energy Technology
Xinhua News Agency (“CHINA FOCUS: BIOLOGICAL DIESEL OIL TO QUENCH CHINA’S ENERGY DEMAND,” November 15, 2005, Hangzhou) reported that breakthroughs have been made in biological diesel oil and the industrialization of this “green” and cheap fuel, Wang Tao, an academician with the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), said at PRC’s first academic conference on forestry held recently in this capital city of east China’s Zhejiang Province. A number of institutions in PRC have claimed successes in experimenting with producing the special diesel oil from rape oil, soybean oil, rice brans and various wild plants, which are considered substitutes to fossil materials such as coal and oil.
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Xinhua News Agency (“CHINA DEVELOPS ELECTRICITY GENERATION FROM COALBED METHANE,” November 18, 2005) reported that PRC is developing a new electricity generation mode from the coalbed methane with a current total install capacity of 90,000 kilowatts. Along with the development of science and technology, the coalbed methane has already become a new source of power generation in PRC, said Liu Wenge, vice-director of China Coal Information Institute’s coalbed methane information centre. The expert said apart from the current 90,000 kilowatts, other projects with the install capacity of 150,000 kilowatts are under construction or planned to be built.
Xinhua News Agency (“CHINA EXCLUSIVE: LIQUEFIED COAL TO EASE ENERGY BOTTLENECK, IMPORT BURDEN,” November 17, 2005) reported that PRC has launched the world’s first coal-to-oil project in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, north China, which is expected to ease its energy bottleneck and import burden with a designed annual output of 5 million tons. The coal liquefaction project will have two production lines, one of which will start operation in 2007 with a designed output of 3.2 million tons and the other will become operative in 2010 to produce 1. 8 million tons of liquefied coal a year, company sources told Xinhua on Nov. 17.
Read Article.
8. Russian Energy Security
RIA Novosti (“RUSSIA LOOKS TO DEEPEN ENERGY, HI-TECH COOPERATION WITHIN APEC,” November 14, 2005) reported that energy security and cooperation in the innovative technologies sector are to be priority areas for Russia in international collaboration, including at the regional level. “As for our future plans, an accent will be placed on areas that are a priority for Russia, including at the regional level, such as energy security and cooperation in the innovative technologies sector,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview to RIA news agency in the run-up to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum opening this week in the ROK town of Pusan.
9. Russia-DPRK Relations
Agence France Presse (“PUTIN FLOATS NEW ECONOMIC INCENTIVES FOR DPRK,” November 19, 2005, BUSAN) reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin called here Saturday for drawing DPRK into large-scale development projects as a way of helping to ease tensions on the Korean peninsula. Speaking at a news conference following bilateral summit talks with ROK President Roh Moo-Hyun, Putin said it would be “genuinely realistic” to widen the warming Russian-ROK relationship to include DPRK in some fields. “It can become cooperation in a three-sided format: Russia, South Korea and DPRK, in the areas of energy and transport.
Read Article.
10. New Energy Security Publication
Alexander’s Gas & Oil Connections and the AKE-Group, eminent analysts of security-challenges all over the world, have a new energy security publication. “The Energy Security Briefing will focus on the short- and medium-term energy-security developments, with analyses of the situation in all regions of the world as well as analyses of future major projects and much more. It will be completed with a host of relevant news providing back-ground information on the medium to long term energy security, looking at the reserve-developments, new projects, geopolitics and much more.”
Download the free first edition and subscribe at: www.gasandoil.com
The East Asia Science and Security Network (EASSNet) delivers timely news and innovative research across a range of issues relating to science and security, including energy security, bio-security, nano-technology, nuclear fuel cycle, missile technology, and information technology, especially within the East Asia region. The network draws on research from Nautilus Institute and its partners in China, Japan, South Korea, Russia, Australia, and North Korea, as well as grantees of the MacArthur Foundation, of MacArthur Foundation, Ploughshares Fund, New Land Foundation, Korea Foundation, Ford Foundation, and US Department of Energy. The service provides researchers, journalists, and policymakers access to and understanding of developments beyond their own disciplinary, academic, or industrial communities.
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