The month of May 2010 saw considerable agitation within China’s central government as the self-imposed target for energy intensity appeared to be eluding its grasp. Provisional data has shown that the nation’s energy intensity increased by 3.2% in the first quarter of the year. This rise partially offsets the decline of 14.8% from 2006 to … Continue Reading ››

The last two years has seen an accelerating realisation around the world of the significance of the development of large reserves of shale gas in the U.S.A. The domestic gas market in the country has been transformed, at least in the short-term, as has the Atlantic market for liquefied natural gas. The waves from this … Continue Reading ››

In my column two months ago I examined how the gradual rise in the rate of GDP growth in the last few months of 2009 was causing a resurgence in demand for energy in China. Statistics from the first three months of 2010 confirm that China’s economy is indeed back on track with annualised GDP … Continue Reading ››

The second week of March 2010 saw representatives from about 60 countries gather in Paris for a meeting hosted by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The topic of the conference was access to civil nuclear energy; in other words, how can those countries which have … Continue Reading ››

China is now emerging from its worst period for low economic growth since the Asian crisis in the late 1990s, and the impact on domestic and international energy markets will be significant.

The expansion of China’s GDP in 2009 was  limited to a mere 8.7%, down from 9.6% in 2008 and 13.0% in … Continue Reading ››