LAT: China Barrels Ahead in Oil Market (deals, alliances "rile" U.S.)

[DeepModem Mom]

China Barrels Ahead in Oil Market
The country's hunt for the energy it needs to fuel its economy has led to deals in political hotspots, riling the U.S.

By Don Lee, Times Staff Writer


SHANGHAI — About a three-hour drive south of Shanghai, along the East China Sea, workers are building 52 gigantic tanks, each capable of holding more than 25 million gallons of oil — enough to supply every driver in China with gasoline for a month.

The storage tanks will help accommodate China's thirst for oil as it looks to fuel its booming economy. And it has plans to stockpile much, much more.

China, the world's second-largest consumer of oil after the United States, has plenty of cash to secure sources of petroleum and natural gas. But as aggressively as any nation, it is also cutting deals and forging alliances to get the energy it needs.

In South America and Africa, the Chinese government is helping build roads and ports in exchange for oil supply contracts. Beijing pledged to support oil-rich Russia in its bid to join the World Trade Organization as the two countries agreed that Russia would boost its exports of crude by rail to China.

And after a Chinese company's deal to develop an oil field in Iran, Beijing tacitly offered political support for Tehran's budding nuclear program. That put China in direct cross hairs of the Bush administration. The hunt for energy in the former Soviet Union and political hotspots such as Sudan is making China few friends in Washington....


http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-chinaoil14nov14,0,5913190.story?coll=la-home-business

[aquart]

1. We're "riled"? China is kicking sand in our weakling face.

They have our factories, our jobs, and our treasury bonds. Now they're finding out how little they need us.

Thanks, George.

[Deja Q]

7. Not just george. saint ronnie is the godfather of outsourcing.

And no President since ronnie ever gave a flying fuck. There was no 8 years of reversal between 1992 and 2000.

First manufacturing. Now IT.

China to be THE superpower? Looks like it might be reality in the end.

[cliss]

9. You got that right.

I really wonder about our "SuperStar of the World" status.

I don't know if anyone else has read varioud statements from China this past year. The dialogue is very condescending, finger-wagging. You can almost see the lack of respect the Chinese direct toward us. They use dialogue like, "the US needs to.....", "It is imperative that the US understands.....".

Who talks to us in those tones on the world stage? No one that I can think of. Why would we put up with such crap? We are a debtor nation to China. We currently owe them more than $100 billion and we're not showing any signs of repaying that any time soon.

And that leads me to look at the type of wars we're waging around the world. VietNam, Somalia, Afghanistan, Central America, Iraq, and a few others. All of these countries have one thing in common: they're weak militarily. We're no giants. We pick fights with weaklings. It really makes me wonder what the global giants must be thinking, as they watch this.

In the meantime, we're bleeding ourselves to death financially, just like Osama Bin Laden said he would. We're currently spending $4.9 billion per month just in Iraq.

As we become more and more bankrupt to secure the oil fields in Iraq, the real enemies secretly watch and make plans......

[ilovenicepeople]

12. Look on the bright side:

at least it's not your government bankrupting the country,Usama said so in "his" latest video it's all his fault,he wouldn't lie now would he.Now go back to sleep EVERYTHING IS GROOVY!!

[htuttle]

14. As I was explaining to my brother last year...

...While the US might spend far more on 'defense' than most other countries combined, consider this question: How much does the US pay for an M-16 (each) versus how much the government of China probably pays for an AK-47 (or whatever they're using nowdays).

I doubt that China spends $500 on a toilet seat very often, either. I'd bet that only top party members get $500 toilet seats...:eyes:

[KT2000]

21. hit the nail on the head

while we descend into the echo chamber of hubris, the chess players of the world, especially China, have been playing us very well.

We have always treated Asian countries with condescension and they know this. China's historical identity includes the concept that they are superior to all others on earth, the barbarians. That they would lecture us is in keeping with their self-image. They would never consider themselves second to anyone.

China has offered its cheap labor to us, thereby securing a dependency from us. The midlevel US managers that are facilitating this "cash cow" for the corporations can only see the increased profits they will realize from cheap labor. I wonder what protections these people believe in that would prevent China from "nationalizing" the products made and kick the foreign corporations out. Their history is rich in this practice.

I wonder how long it would take the US to fold if China refused to ship products - some we are dependent upon.
I wonder how much they will influence American foreign policy because they not only make most of our stuff but are also second only to Japan in investments in US treasury notes.


They do not need military superiority for their next move.

[bhikkhu]

22. Preemptive strikes

Don't forget that the * doctrine reserves the right to use preemtive military force to "protect our economic interests". One of the worst parts of the doctrine, with our economic interests being global.

[Hard Attack]

17. Whats sickening is they are a Communist Country also.

[The Zanti Regent]

23. We're turning into a Bolshevik country too!

One party state

Politburo run by Grover Norquist

Corporate bureaucrats making all the decisions

Bill of Rights silenced.

We'll soon be just like them, and China will have the last laugh when they demand payment on those Treasury notes and pull the mat out from under the dollar.

[pinerow]

2. If it wasn't so sad it would be funny...

nt

[HR_Pufnstuf]

3. who needs oil anymore??

GTL is here and growing.

Natgas, Biomass and Coal --> Synthetic Crude.

Cleaner burning.

Check it out!

http://www.g-t-l.biz

[Deja Q]

5. We do. More than 2/3rds of our need for oil goes to transport, and

a lot of it goes into fertilizer to grow that biomass. It's a pity then that farmers are selling their land to home developers, who promptly destroy the land - land that cannot easily be reclaimed.

What's worth burning when we won't be around? We've starved ourselves already with the greed of those in power. And we're all to blame.

[HR_Pufnstuf]

15. that is right.

and why we need to switch to GTL asap.

Shanghai buses are in a trial. Shell is working in Cali.

Its coming.

The end of the oil age.

[Deja Q]

4. You know, I'd be rolling in laughter at * and his followers, except

this is real life and these situations endanger far more than the 59 million people who wanted * to stay in.

And, you know what? I refuse to be scared any longer. Everything ends. And all of the information I've been reading suggests that something is going to dramatically change in this country, possibly within weeks rather than months or even a couple of years. All we can do is hope we, as a society, can restructure ourselves after the crash. We have to become vigilant about our lives and our government and our businesses again, and not repeat history.

The world HAS taken notice of us and they seem to be doing their share, using economics as a weapon. Who needs nukes when a piece of paper that people put blind faith into is so much more rewarding? The only people who haven't noticed approaches that of 59 million Americans. While tens of millions did not vote, I won't lump them all into a "too lazy to care" category; some of them are surely upset at the situation anyway.

[madrchsod]

6. china is buying windmills from

germany untill they can start making their own.estimates range into the hundreds of millions of kilowatts can be generated for the nation...but don`t worry about china-the us navy is already planning for a sea war with china. ever heard of a rail gun-you will in the near future...

[htuttle]

8. Q: Where does a nation of 1.3 Billion buy it's oil?

A: Anywhere it wants to.

[bemildred]

10. US-China relations healthiest in 30-plus years: Powell

So, who are you going to believe?

WASHINGTON, Nov 13 (AFP) - US relations with China are the best they have been in more than 30 years, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said in an interview to be broadcast Sunday, noting that Beijing has played a key role in North Korea and in Indo-Pakistani relations.

"I would submit it's the best relationship that the United States has had with China in over 30 years," Powell told the CNBC news program "The Wall Street Journal Report," according to a transcript released Saturday.

"I have found the Chinese leadership over the last three or four years that I've been secretary of state to be very helpful as we worked our way through problems on the subcontinent, the challenge that we faced two years ago between India and Pakistan," when the nuclear rivals were on the brink of war, he said.

Powell said China has played a leadership role on North Korea, noting that it hosted six-party talks aimed at ending the Stalinist state's nuclear ambitions.

TurkishPress

[Ima]

13. you bet

"Powell said China has played a leadership role"

we'll be seeing a lot more of that 'leadership role', I'm afraid.

[4MoreYearsOfHell]

20. "Iraq has mobile weapons labs: Powell"

If Colin Powell says our relations with China are going great, then it is truly time to worry...

[VegasWolf]

11. little georgie porgie too worried about CIA people making fun

of him to concentrate on economy.

[LynnTheDem]

16. Democracy's a bitch, innit.

China is the reason bushCartel invaded Iraq. It's all about OIL; not getting the oil, but who DOESN'T GET the oil.

Didn't go quite as planned tho, eh bushie?

[natrat]

18. fools won't get there iraq oil anyway

there will be angry folks there for years blowing up pipelines. Maybe *ushco is just incredibly stupid. Maybe they just want to sell weapons and kill lots of folks.

[George_S]

19. Do they want a free market or not?

Supply and demand.

[bemildred]

24. It should be obvious, the US government hates free markets,

and they love monopoly capitalism. That's what we have, isnt't it?