Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 6
Oil: imports and exports in 2012 (thousand barrels daily)
Product
imports
Product
exports
Balance of
trade (crude)
Balance of
trade (product)
Crude imports
Crude exports
USA
8,491
2,096
23
2,657
−8,468.6
561.5
Canada
514
211
2,437
619
1,923.1
407.8
Mexico
0.5
581
1,290
76
1,289.1
−504.5
South and Central America
392
1,411
3,143
691
2,750.7
−720.6
Europe
9,512
2,976
383
1,791
−9,128.8
−1,184.9
Former Soviet Union
0.5
114
6,049
2,548
6,048.6
2,433.8
Middle East
222
559
17,646
2,053
17,424.2
1,493.7
North Africa
186
312
2,139
465
1,952.4
152.9
West Africa
0.5
238
4,328
235
4,327.9
−3.2
East and Southern Africa
285
260
86
15
−199.2
−245.0
Australasia
575
379
272
164
−303.0
−214.6
China
5,433
1,729
26
538
−5,407.4
−1,191.3
India
3,547
323
0.5
1,349
−3,546.9
1,025.4
Japan
3,739
1,004
5.00
221
−3,733.9
−782.9
Singapore
948
2,016
12
1,479
−936.0
−536.3
Other Asia-Pacifi c
4,755
2,505
767
1,813
−3,987.8
−691.8
Total world
38,599
16,715
38,599
16,715
−0.0 -
Bunkers are not included as exports. Intra-area movements (e.g. between countries in Europe) are excluded
Source
: BP Statistical Review of World Energy, June 2013
change. On the other hand, the major share of the
cost of renewable power generation is capital
invested upfront for the technology, project con-
struction and grid connection. The marginal costs
of most renewables (including hydro, geother-
mal, solar and wind power) are low and often pre-
vail over conventional power generation on spot
markets, thereby reducing the economic viability
of marginal-cost-based generation (REN21
2013
). Building a coal-based power plant with
relatively low initial capital cost and high con-
tinuous fuel cost means for another 30 years the
consumer is going pay a higher price in the
future. Building a wind power generation facility
means investing upfront and ripping benefi t for
25-40 years. In addition to this, the external costs
of renewables are far less than those of fossil
fuels (Burtraw and Krupnick
2012
), particularly
with respect to emissions of greenhouse gases
(Heal
2009
) and other environmental and health
hazards. Nordhaus (
2009
) has an estimate of the
social cost of CO
2
emissions that is about $8 per
ton, and Stern (
2006
) estimates an order of
magnitude greater at $85 per ton. Heal (
2009
)
suggests that Stern's estimate seems to be closer
to reality but not free from ambiguity. The
European Commission conducts studies on social
cost, and reports suggest that external costs of
renewables like solar and wind are as low as
0-0.6 c/kwh compared to nonrenewables as high
as 11 c/kwh. It could be safely argued that con-
sidering high associated costs of fossil fuel the
renewables are a safer and better bet for future
socioeconomic and environmental progress.
5.7
Geopolitical Dynamics
In the place of the USA and the European Union,
Asia is now becoming the predominant buyer of
Persian Gulf oil and gas, primarily driven by
strong demand growth from China and India.
Consequently, one of the foundations of US
interests in the gulf is weakening as global oil
fl ows shift dramatically towards Asia (Herberg
2012
) and the role of India and China is becoming
very crucial in global energy geopolitics. India
could derive desirable benefi ts by strengthening
relations with countries like Iran, Iraq and Saudi
Arabia. China has been building very strong
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