At the end of March 2017, the President of the United States Donald trump signed a decree on “energy independence”, aimed at the elimination of excessive government regulation of the energy sector. This decree repealed the previous acts of the former President Barack Obama, which reduced emission of greenhouse gases from coal-fired power plants. He added that the production of electric energy will grow, creating jobs. The United States achieve energy independence. In recent years, the U.S. shale oil and gas has made significant progress.
Earlier, the price of oil and gas grew, but the oil crisis of the Nixon years is over. The previous government also sought to energy independence, though the methods of achieving these goals differ, but they share one common goal — to reduce state dependence on oil imports. At the moment, trump hopes to increase oil production, reduce dependence on imports and to ensure the safe provision of energy. Specifically: to encourage the development of oil and gas resources of the United States by weakening of state control over the process of development of these resources, encourage enterprises dealing with oil and gas production on the continental shelf.
In recent years, the introduction of innovative technologies for drilling, production and efficiency increased significantly. Based on data from the U.S. Department of energy, in 2015 the volume of crude oil production made up 9.42 million barrels a day, compared to 2008, this figure increased by approximately 88.4%, reaching its highest level since 1972. In 2016 due to the fall in oil prices the volume of production of crude oil in the U.S. fell to 8.87 million barrels a day. Thus, in 2016 the volume of oil production to 12.35 million barrels per day (including crude oil and other petroleum products). The import volume of country a net importer made up 4.87 million barrels a day. The demand for oil is of 19.63 million barrels per day, thus the dependence on imports declined by 25%.
The development of alternative energy sources in the United States played an important role in the independence of the country. The growth of shale gas has stimulated the supply of natural gas in the country and even around the world. In 2009, the United States overtook the world’s largest gas producer — Russia. It is foreseeable that in the next few years U.S. may become a net importer to a net exporter of natural gas. On the other hand, the growth of shale gas has significantly reduced the deficit in the energy consumption of the United States.
It is expected that in 2016 the volume of Chinese imports of oil will reach 357 million tons, and the degree of dependence of China on oil imports will increase by 62%. The volume of natural gas imports is also growing. China became a net natural gas importer in 2007, as oil and gas production does not keep pace with increasing demand. In 2016, the dependence on foreign natural gas increased by 33%, and in 2020 it may exceed 40%. The international energy Agency suggests that by 2035, PetroChina is 80% dependent on imported oil, therefore, domestically produced oil and gas will be soon enough. Dependence on foreign resources is a weakness for China, which depends on public safety. In this regard, China needs to figure out a way to keep the import within acceptable limits.
According to the China coal energy Corporation, the moment primary energy resource consumption in China amounted to 62%. Compared to other energy resources, the coal power industry is relatively prosperous with relatively low prices. This is the reason, energozavisimost China from other countries. At the moment China needs to take a number of measures to combat air pollution and the environment, the government should therefore restructure the energy industry away from coal, reduce emissions of harmful gases and develop alternative energy sources. Due to lack of oil resources in the country, China was forced to notice his coal, besides increasing the import of natural gas. Thus, the degree of China’s dependence on imports is high enough. If alternative energy sources are not able to meet domestic demand and spot coal, to China in the future will be even more difficult to become energy independent, and China’s energy security is extremely important.
© AP Photo Xinhua, Li YuzeНефтедобывающая platform near the city of Jinzhou
China is really difficult to reduce imports of oil and gas, but there’s no other way. You need to start with reducing costs, and increasing the funding of prospecting oil and gas sources. Under the spending cuts meant that people from birth will be aware of the cost they consume resources and, therefore, economical to use them. Production of energy should become more efficient consumption of resources requires each of us a conscious approach to energy savings.
Exploration of energy resources includes two aspects: 1) increased production of oil and gas resources (including produced from unconventional sources) in the country, 2) find new sources of energy to replace oil. Currently in China, the probability of finding large oil deposits very little to the same resources large deposits of oil are on the verge of exhaustion. Despite the fact that at the moment the cost of developing unconventional sources of oil are not profitable due to external factors such as: lack of resources and environmental pollution. The Chinese government still believes that this only increases the market competitiveness and stimulate technical progress. The government also strongly supports the development of new energy sources. So far, the scale is not large, but the pace of development is fast enough.
Being the world’s largest country-importer of oil, energy security is extremely important for China. It is important to avoid strong fluctuations in oil prices on the international market, to ensure energy security of China, not only by increasing strategic oil reserves, and develop oil production from unconventional sources. You need to find a replacement for oil, for example: to develop in the cities of rail transport, to produce cars that run on new sources of energy. The only way China can become energy independent.
