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Importance of crude oil to the economy
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China is on the quest to secure massive amounts of energy. This demand for this overall energy is based on the fact that China is the country with the most population on the globe and with a rapidly growing economy. According to Jenkins (2012), over the last 30 years the GDP has increased over 9 percent annually, which makes China the second largest global economy. China has out ranked Germany in becoming the world's number one exporter (Jenkins, 2012). The developments from this growth are an across the board effect on motorization, urbanization, and industrialization which is manifested in the extensive construction of infrastructures and the extreme popularity of automobiles. The results of these factors are energy concerns, both environmental and precautionary, and a rapidly increasing demand for oil, particularly as a fuel for automobiles. Linwei, Feng, Zheng, and Pei (2012) asserts that views on the future oil consumption of China varies with support for oil independence, a steady course of oil reliance, or the suggestion of development of a limited level of substituting alternative fuels. Because of their desperate need for energy, China is pouring monies and labor into the expansion of other countries hoping to secure entrance and access to resources. These opinionated differences are forcing decision makers to evaluate the situation again and continue to study the development and future trends of oil in China. Although China is a coal producing country and has increased its natural gas usage, its need for oil is great, especially since in 2011, the International Energy Agency reports China's oil consumption growth was responsible for 50 percent of the global oil consumption growth. The country is searching for alternati...
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...ure, African oil will play a diminishing part in the energy strategy of the United States, making the U.S. dominant in the bilateral trade between African and the U.S., which will reduce economic value for Africa creating an unequal partnership. Contrarily, African oil is majorly important to China's energy strategy make the trade between China and Africa interdependent, giving Africa increasing initiatives and making this partnership more equal. China is proving to be a stable and large importer, demanding more products from Africa than oil; proving that China has learned from early mistakes. With their growing dominance in the global market, China will have to take more political risks in the future by making a stand on issues, such as human rights and terrorist activities. Their trade relationships in Africa could make a difference in development of global peace.
In his article, “from King Coal: Reigning the China”, George Will developed the counterargument that America exports a large amount of global warming. Will’s rebuttal to this argument was that all over the world different counties are exporting just as much global warming. He supports this argument by appealing to logos and bringing up specific facts. For instance, Will mentions that several Australian companies were supplying Chinese power plants that are also a cause to global warming. However, he doesn’t fail to make an attempt to justify why these countries export so much global warming. Will mentions that it is more economical for America and Australia to import coal due to china enormous coal reserves; one of the biggest causes
With Europe in control, “the policies of the governing powers redirected all African trade to the international export market. Thus today, there is little in the way of inter-African trade, and the pattern of economic dependence continues.” Europeans exported most of the resources in Africa cheaply and sold them costly, which benefited them, but many Africans worked overtime and were not treated with care.
America is dependent on other nations for their ability to create energy. The United States is the world’s largest consumer of oil at 18.49 million barrels of oil per day. And it will continue to be that way for the foreseeable future considering the next largest customer of oil only consumes about 60% of what the U.S. does. This makes the U.S. vulnerable to any instability that may arise in the energy industry. In 2011, the world’s top three oil companies were Saudi Aramco (12%), National Iranian Oil Company (5%), and China National Petroleum Corp (4%). The risk associated with these countries being the top oil producers is twofold. One, they are located half way around the world making it an expensive to transport the product logistically to a desired destination. And two, the U.S. has weak, if not contentious,...
China is an economic power and the U.S. behaves with china because of security reason and China has the biggest U.S debt. If China decides to call it in it will have a huge impact in the U.S. economy and it will destroy its own economy as well. China is the second largest importer and exporter of the U.S. trade deals. The U.S sees china as a security concern because it has become very powerful and its economy is really big which can start investing in its military and increase threat and destabilize region and to U.S. allies such as Japan and South Korea. Furthermore, U.S sees china as a security because it has invested a lot in Africa because of its continental natural resources, and around 2007 the Congolese Government announced that China would bullied and refurbish rail ways, roads and mines in Congo at about $12 billion and china would benefit by mining copper ore and shows that it is dedicated to investing no matter how big the price tag would be in war torn countries. China has also invest in Nigeria by rebuilding its railroad system and is building a new railroad system. In Gabon it has paved almost 80 percent of its roads and Chinese firms are exploring for Oil and natural gas. The U.S and behaves negatively towards China as well because of currency manipulation and devaluing its currency to get and advantage in trade, as well as violations of Human Rights,
It is thought-provoking, in the sense that Africa’s need for foreign created a race to the bottom, much like what Pietra Rivoli described in The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy. Due to some African states’ reliance on foreign aid in order to mine and profit on their resources, they allow business standards to be lowered and for Chinese firms to tip the contracts moresoever in the favor of Chinese firms. This lowers the potential earnings of African states by lowering royalty rates, for example. Additionally, Burgis’ research was thorough and transparent. When he did not receive a response or if his questions were dodged, he made it obvious to the readers. Sure, some could view this book as too anecdotal to be used as a credible source of Africa’s situation. However, this is due to the nature of the system Burgis is writing about; after all, they are shadow states for a reason. Some readers will be saddened by this text, others angry, most curious to learn more, but above all, everyone will be intellectually stimulated and
In 2004, crude oil producers around the world expected a 1.5% growth in the world’s demand for crude oil. The actual growth rate was more than double the projections at 3.3%. This growth was due to rapidly industrializing of foreign countries such as, China and India. Therefore the lack of crude oil affected the supply of gasoline to consumers at the pump.
...st glance, this would seem to be a positive impact of post-colonial interactions between France and Africa; but, the situation beneath the surface is actually quite problematic. Most of the countries responsible for these new industries are of Western origin, meaning that the majority of profits earned through these endeavors are filtered back into Western economies. This imbalance, in turn, affects the purchasing power of average Africans; and, reinforces neocolonial power dynamics.
The United States has had several scares throughout its history in terms of oil, most turn out to be over exaggerations of a small event. However, these scares highlight a massive issue with the U.S. and that issue is the U.S.’s dependence on foreign oil. Why does it matter that our oil should come from over seas? In a healthy economy this probably wouldn’t be as relevant, but the U.S.’s economy is not exactly healthy at the moment. There are 4 things that I would like to address: what the problem is, how it affects us, what some solutions are, and what solutions I feel are best.
It seems China’s interest in African countries is not in territorial occupation, but rather in international prominence and expanding its rapidly growing economic agenda. Kenya’s richness in commodities and weak commercial laws are an idealistic setting for rapid market entry, therefore China has been able to effortlessly influence and expand its mercantilist ambitions without distress of competition from the west. Even though the United States is focused in providing conditional aid to Kenya, the effects of Chinese expansion in Kenya on U.S. interest are alarming, for China is offering cold hard cash that is f...
China has approximately 20% of the world’s population, which is around 1.3 billion people (Morris, 2009, p. 111). Also, China has become one of the worlds biggest manufacturing countries within 30 years (Fawssett, 2009, p. 27). However, such rapid development has come at a cost, which has created various environmental problems. Coincidentally, China has 16 cities on a list of the 20 worst polluted cities in the world (Fawssett, 2009, p. 15). Therefore, this essay will explain the reasons for China’s environmental problems, then evaluate the claim that the Chinese government and people, are tackling these environmental problems. First, crop farming techniques over the last hundred years, and their consequences will be explained. Followed by, how peoples choice in food has changed over the last hundred years, and how this indirectly affects the environment. Then, how a capitalist economy is linked to agriculture, and finally what the Chinese government and people are doing to tackle these problems.
China’s foray in Africa is not just influencing governments’ economic and trade policies but indications show that this influence permeates in the social sphere as well.
The current world dependence on oil leaves much to be said about the impact of Saudi Arabia and the Middle East on foreign policy and international politics. Presently the world's largest consumer of oil, the U.S. depends on Saudi Arabia and much of the Middle East for the energy to run its businesses, its homes, and most importantly, its automobiles. In the past few months U.S. consumers have felt the pressures of increasing gasoline prices as they struggle to commute and live their daily lives. This leaves the U.S. with important decisions to be made on behalf of its citizens and its position in the international realm.
Over the past 200 years, mankind discovered the fossil fuels and they used this source to produce hug energy. This affects the environment in many negative ways and caused many issues worldwide such as urban air pollution and acid rain, oil spills and the high temperature of earth. Saudi Arabia has the biggest oil reserves in the world by 19.66% (the world factbook, 2011) and the second oil producer country in the world with roughly 10.121 million barrels a day – which account for 12% of the total world production of oil in 2010 (Fontinelle,2011). Moreover, the country relies heavily on oil industry. And the most successful companies in the country are thus whose work in oil industry such as ARAMCO Company. The reason behind this success is because most of these companies get financial support and attention from the Saudi government and sometimes the government owes these companies. Because of the massive reserve of oil and the high income that generated from oil, the country has less attention to seek for other sources of clean energy such as solar energy and wind energy which leads to the increase of air pollution in the country. However, oil is expected to last in the next 50 to 100 years (Hubbert, 1956). Furthermore, the International organizations have made many decisions to protect the environment and environmental resource such as Kyoto Protocol which decided to raise the use of solar energy to 50%of the total global energy use by 2020 (UNFCCC ,2005 ). Recently, these issues lead the Saudi government to realize problems, such as air pollutions, and start to invest in clean energy area but not as expected. These days many people in Saudi Arabia argue the uses of clean energy and replace with the fossil fuels. And they d...
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a petrostate. It is a petrostate in the sense that the oil sector dominates the national economy and international exports. (Colgan 226) This is due to Saudi Arabia’s one crop economy, oil. (Ali 100) Oil accounts for 70-80% of the state revenue as well as roughly 95% of export revenues. Before the discovery of oil in the 1930s, the economy rested on Islamic pilgrims. Containing the Grand Mosque, Al-Masjid al-Haram, Saudi Arabia gets a large influx of believers every year for the Hajj, one of the Five Pillars of Islam. During this time of year, income was made by food and shelter sold to the travelers. This was enough to support the state, but not enough to make it the monetary power it is today. What allowed for Saudi Arabia’s climb in the world economic ladder was oil. Oil has been a valuable industrial resource since the beginning of World War 1. Since then the demand for oil has progressively become higher and higher amongst industrial nations, allowing for oil rich states to receive large amounts of affluence. Among these oil rich states is Saudi Arabia, the region with the highest capacity for oil production out of the entire Middle East. From their remarkably high oil production, Saudi Arabia was able to gain considerable amounts of wealth and political significance. Oil in Saudi Arabia politically affected the Saudi government in both their foreign and domestic policy by providing economic power, the ability to fund wars, the ability to use economic diplomacy.
Countries such as China and Japan need to enforce more powerful regulations on the amount of carbon emissions that they produce. China put in regulations just this last year and Japan postponed plans for a national regulations on carbon emissions, bowing to powerful business groups that warned of job losses as they compete against overseas rivals facing fewer emissions regulations. It’s not a good sign that large corporations can control how a nation regulates its environmental safety laws. China is finally planning to regulate their carbon emissions. This is long over due concerting that China ranks as the world’s number one carbon dioxide emitter, thanks in part to the massive amounts of coal the country burns. China currently builds a new coal-fired power plant at a rate of about one every week to ten days. The country’s coal burning levels are nearly on par with the rest of the world combined.