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Big deals: Earlier this month, reports said PetroChina ( PTR ) is close to buying an old refinery on Aruba owned by Americanrefining giant Valero ( VLO , Fortune 500 ). China is also said to be interested in building a pipeline to carry300,000 barrels a day of Colombian oil to the Pacific Coast,according to a recent Eurasia Group note. These deals come on the heels of some other major energy acquisitions . They include CNOOC ( CEO )'s purchase of a $2 billion stake in Chesapeake's Texas oil fields in2010 as well as CNOOC's $2 billion purchase of Canadian oil sandsoperator OPTI Canada in 2011. Also in 2011, China National Petroleum Corp. paid over $5 billionfor a joint venture in Canadian shale gas properties held by Encana( ECA ), and Sinopec ( SHI ) put down $7 billion for a share in Brazil's deepwater oil assets. An insatiable appetite: The acquisitions are being driven by a basic need for energy. China currently consumes about 10 million barrels of oil a day --roughly half of what the United States uses. Like the UnitedStates, China imports about half the oil it needs. But unlike the United States, where oil demand is flat ordeclining, demand in China is expected to jump 50% by 2020. "They have to get as much as they can from where ever theycan," said David Fridley, a staff scientist at the ChinaEnergy Group at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. "Goingto the Americas gives them a legal and political regime thatensures stability." Much of China's energy and natural resource buys have been inunstable places -- Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Africa. The Americas region is arguably much more stable than any of those regions. That's an attractive prospect for a country that relies on a steady flowof resources. The Americas are also in the midst of an energy boom. From oilsands production in Canada to shale gas in the United States topromising deepwater finds off Brazil, the Americas are quicklybecoming an energy powerhouse . Raising suspicions: As with most major-power forays into the Western Hemisphere,interest in the region's resources by an outside country is boundto produce some unease in the United States. But analysts say any increase in global energy production, whetherit's by a Chinese firm or a company from any other country, shouldlower oil prices for everyone. "The popular impression is 'oh, China is poking its head intoour businesses,'" said Fridley. "But it makes everyone'spie bigger." Al Troner, a former scholar at the East-West Center who now headsAsia Pacific Energy Consulting, said China's interest in WesternHemisphere refineries shows that it will likely make gas, dieselfuel and other products available for the global market. China's oil companies, he said, aren't simply interested in sendingsupplies back home to China, but rather using their partnerships inthe Americas to become truly global oil firms that can compete withthe likes of Exxon Mobil ( XOM , Fortune 500 ), BP ( BP ) or Royal Dutch Shell ( RDSA ). "This is not some insidious 1960s plot to destroy the UntiedSates," said Troner. "If they can increase supply as wellas demand, then what's the loss for anyone?". I am an expert from fiber-opticcomponents.com, while we provides the quality product, such as Fiber Optic Components Manufacturer , Fiber Optic Patch Cord, Fiber Optic Splitter,and more.
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