As per usual, China is to blame for record fuel prices:
BEIJING, July 28 (UPI) — China’s escalating demand for oil can be traced to increased auto sales in the country and government subsidies that keep prices low, analysts said.Although subsidies were partly lifted recently, gas now costs $3.40 per gallon in China. SUV sales, meanwhile, rose 43 percent in May this year compared with May 2007 and sales of full-sized sedans jumped 15 percent, The Washington Post (NYSE:WPO) reported Monday.
The country now has 15.2 million private cars, which puts it on par with the United States of 1915, when less than 4 percent of the population owned a car.
“The entire energy market of the world is being affected by this country already. Can you imagine when we get to 50 people out of every 1,000 in China owning cars?” asked Friedhelm Engler, design director for an joint Chinese-General Motors design lab in China.
The purchase of cars has government support. Bicycles are now banned on some streets in Beijing. The city of Dalian and others have banned smaller cars on the premise they are old and dirty, the report said. And several municipalities have cut sales tax and worked with banks to make car loans available, the report said.
Obviously issues such as taking Iraqi pipelines offline for years, sabre rattling against Iran, hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico, and instability in Nigeria are not to blame, just China for importing around 3 million barrels per day and shutting off oil exports to protect their domestic market.
On another note, here is a very interesting article on the history of domestic oil production and oil use in China.
How dare those Chinese enjoy the fruits of their labor. Only the Europeans and Americans deserve that right and privilege…..blah, blah, blah. Get a life Mr. Engler…
As I see it the Chinese are working hard to start their auto industry off on a green footing.
Go ahead and blame China for everything, including that fact that you’re not getting any.
At first, it was irritating, then it became infuriating, now it’s just comical.
it is journalists confusing chinese potential (enormous) with the current state (Chinese car market is about the size of Ohio).
That being said, at what point does the Chinese government think the strategic shift to car manufacturing stops making sense. Cars do have a number of externalities that are expensive (road upkeep, parking, environmental, social, safety, energy security)
ancient word said, If a dog dont get it’s share, it will bark… and it will BARK LOUDLY and if necessary it will BITE!
instead of using brutal force like USA did to Iraq to controlling oil supply, China still use older and traditional way, yet civilized way to get oil -> market system, you sell i buy.
@ “the truth and facts…”
re: “market system”
1) US hasn’t exactly “controlled” oil supply by invading Iraq, in fact, it’s a large reason why there are skyrocketing oil prices. It was an economic disaster.
2) China is creating another economic disaster, domestically, by heavily subsidizing oil prices to “fuel the fire” so to speak - when they jack the price of Oil to match the world market price it will infuriate many consumers and business dependent on oil for manufacturing and such alike.
Subsidizing so drastically rather than allowing for natural market value to slow down the economy to match the world’s economy resulting from skyrocketing oil prices wouldn’t have been such a bad idea. It’s interesting your immediate response to an article such as this (which is intended to point out some facts, as well as the ignorant opinion of Engler) is a very defensive one, pointing out the mistakes of another country. Actually - I’ve been here long enough to restate that, it’s not that interesting at all.