Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
populous China to increase its employment rate. PetroChina, Sinopec,
CNOOC and many private energy companies have set up shale gas research
centers, subsidiary companies and manufacturing divisions which employ
many technical people. If the shale gas development in China is as suc-
cessful as in the US, it will help China's GDP to keep growing at a remarkable
rate and build a resource-conserving and environmentally-friendly society to
fulfil the Chinese government's commitment that energy consumption per
unit of GDP should decrease by 16% while CO
2
emissions per unit of GDP
should fall by 17% during the period from 2011 to 2015 according to China's
12
th
Five-Year Plan.
5 Geopolitical Implications of Shale Gas Development
in China
The US-initiated shale gas revolution will not only change the global landscape
of energy distribution but will also change the world's geopolitical layout. As
unrest in the Middle East continues and US shale gas technologies become
commercialised, the global landscape of energy resources will change, e.g.
reducing requirements for imported liquefied natural gas (LNG). The US will
become less and less reliant on Middle Eastern oil and take a more dominant
position in the global energy distribution. The development of shale gas
technology will have a major impact on the world's geopolitical map.
Geopolitics is affected by the trajectory of shale gas markets. The US's
geopolitical pivot towards the Pacific region dovetails with shale revolution
dynamics, which will help strengthen cooperation between the US and energy-
consuming Asian nations, especially China. Indeed, the Russians have be-
come anxious about the potential for exports to Asia from the US, Australia
and East Africa. A geopolitical shift can be foreseen if a Pacific Rim energy
supply chain stretching from Alaska, Canada, mainland USA and Australia to
Japan overtakes the southern oil shipping route from the Middle East to Japan
through the Malacca Strait and South China Sea, and this will be of strategic
significance.
9
Fostering cooperation while exploring shale gas is of vital im-
portance to both the US and China, which will help bring about a balanced
development of the world economy and global geopolitical stability.
Since 2010, China's national oil companies (NOCs) have spent a lot of
money to acquire upstream assets in the US, most of which has been spent
on unconventional projects. China's NOCs have spent more money to ac-
quire assets in North America ($44.2 billion) than in any other region of the
world.
11
At the same time, as US oil companies sell assets abroad to earn
money to invest in shale energy development in the United States, there are
more assets available for China's NOCs to buy in other countries. One of the
major geopolitical benefits of the US shale energy revolution is that it pro-
vides China's NOCs with a powerful incentive to curb their business with
Iran, since the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States has
more leverage over the activities of Chinese companies who have invested in
the US.
