China’s Oil Future: Balancing Economic, Geopolitical, and Environmental Concerns

China’s energy future will be shaped by its major oil ambitions, including the opportunity to exploit newly accessible domestic resources. As the second-largest consumer of oil and—by the end of 2014— the world’s largest net oil importer, China’s growing demand comes at a time when the petroleum industry is experiencing the most significant paradigm shift since the oil crisis of 1973. High crude prices combined with technological advances are unlocking a new class of previously unattainable oils in North America, China, and around the globe. With Beijing’s new leadership seeking to ensure China’s economic growth charts a more sustainable path, Mikkal Herberg, Wang Tao, and Anthony Yuen addressed the nation’s future oil opportunities and challenges. Carnegie’s Deborah Gordon moderated.

Deborah Gordon

Deborah Gordon is a senior associate at the Carnegie Energy & Climate Program, researching oil and climate change issues in North America and globally.

Wang Tao

Wang Tao is a resident scholar in the Energy and Climate Program based at the Carnegie–Tsinghua Center for Global Policy. His research focuses on China’s climate and energy policy, with particular attention to transportation and international climate negotiation

Mikkal Herberg

Mikkal Herberg is research director on Asian energy security at The National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR). He is also a senior lecturer on international energy and politics at the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies at the University of California San Diego.

Anthony Yuen

Anthony Yuen is global energy strategist at Citi Research and is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers. Dr. Yuen was most recently with Constellation Energy's Global Commodities Group, the physical and financial trading arm of the firm, and worked at McKinsey & Company prior to joining Constellation.