7.1 China

7.1.1 Background

With rapid economic development, energy demand increases rapidly also in China. China’s total energy consumption already occupies the second place in the world. Fig.1 shows the trends of China’s oil consumption and net imports from 1990 to 2006. Since 1993 when China became a net import country of petroleum, the dependency of petroleum upon import increased from 7.6% in 1995 to 47.0% in 2006. It is forecasted that in 2020 the petroleum consumption and import in China will amount to 450 million tons and 250 million tons, respectively, with 55% dependency of petroleum upon petroleum import. It’s expected that transportation will contribute the most oil consumption growth in future. Compared to the transportation oil consumption in 2000 which accounts for about 1/3 of the total petroleum consumption, it is forecasted that the ration will rise to 43% and 57% by 2010 and

Fig. 7.1.1. Trends of China’s oil consumption and net imports from 1990 to 2006