Recently in China Category

(John Roberts was a guest lecturer on energy security at the NATO Partnership for Peace Symposium at Oberammergau earlier this month.)

When NATO looks at Iran it would seem reasonable to expect that it was looking at how the western world's warships are cramming into the Strait of Hormuz amidst charge and counter-charge that the strait faces the prospect of an Iranian blockade.

But when NATO invites its partners in the region -- countries such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Iraq, Jordan and Egypt are all members of NATO's Partnership for Peace program -- for an informal symposium on issues of mutual interest, it's not just energy security that's up for discussion, but cyber security, water and the problems posed by declining military budgets.

It's the Lunar New Year in China, which marks the start of the zodiac Year of the Dragon. And 2012 will be another year that the world will again focus on China and actions to be taken by world's second largest oil consumer.

So given the importance of the number eight in Chinese culture, here are eight areas of focus for China's energy demand for 2012.

The numbers are in, and the rate of Chinese oil demand growth slowed considerably in 2011, falling to almost zero growth by the end of the year.

Platts' monthly survey of Chinese oil demand for December also gave us the opportunity to add up the figures for the entire year. While the country continues to set demand records virtually every month, by December that rate of growth compared to the prior year had slid to less than 1 percent.

You can read all about the numbers here.

China's oil demand, which has been showing signs that its strong growth rate might be waning, turned in a sharp upward growth rate in October.

You can read about the results of our monthly survey here.

Nobuo Tanaka seems to enjoy speaking more freely now that he's no longer head of the International Energy Agency. In that role, reporters would parse his every word for clues about possible movements in oil prices and supply.

At Singapore International Energy Week, Tanaka proclaimed on a range of issues Monday in a way he almost certainly would have avoided when he was executive director of the west's energy watchdog.

Platts' Singapore-based managing editor Shailaja Nair was on the BBC today, talking about the impact of a new resource tax being levied in China. You can see it here. 

In recent years US and European clean-energy companies have rushed to cash in on China's renewables boom, selling solar photovoltaic panels and wind turbines as fast as Chinese authorities could erect them.

Now that relationship has turned sour, as Western companies complain that China is unfairly subsidizing its domestic renewables industry and stealing technology.