PowerSwitch

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17511050

Countries including china hoarding crude oil they may also be hoarding domestic production, and this is what's causing oil prices to rise so they say

We keep reserves, you stockpile, they hoard.

Nothing to do with peak oil then ! just those wicked hoarders and speculators. Shoot them and all will be well, with oil back down to the "normal" price of $30 !

More seriously, the keeping of stocks by individualls and by nations is entirely responsable and to be commended, in case of war, natural disaster or other problems.

The BBC are just fuelling speculation there.

Countries. [/pedant]

RalphW wrote:We keep reserves, you stockpile, they hoard.

Quite! One mans preparation is anothers paranoia. I think what we are seeing now is the beginning of a new paradigm.

An ex girlfriends dad actualy designed (well, partialy) a massive oil storage facility in China.
It was a decade ago now, but I'm sure the surface area was something like 50 square miles.

Japan lost the pacific war because the US managed to cut it off from its oil imports, and its stockpiles were well below what the war effort needed.
As early as midway, the Imperial fleet was on rationed fuel, and the nuclear bombers got through because Japan lacked the fuel to send fighters after single bombers (who they assumed were scouts).

No ones exactly been shy about the fact that the same will be done to China if it gets "uppity", a 5 year oil store could be enough to wait out a blockade.

The US strategic reserve is about 700 million barrels. US imports about 9 million barrels a day. With conservation efforts, it would see them through 3 months without imports. (Or 4 months if Canadian pipelines keep pumping).

The Chinese SPR will be smaller, and their imports are rising rapidly. No-one will be able to sit out a war of more than a few months.

Further, the US SPR has a lot of heavy sour oil which cannot be used by all US refineries, so it can not totally offset a total loss of sea-born imports.

Hoarding fossil fuel. Using more than your fair share. Burning more than necessary. Some similarities there.

The Chinese SPR will be smaller

Why?

DominicJ wrote:

The Chinese SPR will be smaller

Why?

Assuming wikipedia is accurate, it is currently about 300-350M barrels, about half the size of the US one. It is set to grow to about 500M barrels by 2020.

It takes years to build these things, and years to fill them when the market is so tight. Fill them too fast and you cause speculative price spikes...

China uses less oil than the US, and needs a smaller reserve for the same level of days of supply. Currently they import a smaller percentage of their oil than the US does, but that is changing rapidly.

China is planning ahead by filling reserves, USA is is gaining short term political advantage by draining theirs.

Fair enough, sorry I'd assumed your response was, unresearched.