China


China’s factories continued their expansion in December, according to a key manufacturing index released Monday. HSBC said its Chinese purchasing managers’ index, or PMI, rose to a 19-month high of 51.5 in December from 50.5 last month. The reading was above 50, meaning that manufacturing is now in a state of accelerated expansion. A preliminary reading of 50.9 was published by HSBC earlier in December. “Momentum is likely to be sustained in the coming months when infrastructure construction runs into full speed and property market conditions stabilize,” said Hongbin Qu, an economist at HSBC.


For much of the past decade the answer to almost any major economic question had at least a little bit of “China” in its answer, and for energy the growth of what has become the world’s second largest economy and remains its most populous nation has been central to market growth and disruption.

Without China’s growth, oil prices would have been lower, leavening the expensive and much-debated fight over the race to renewable power in the US. With less growth in China, natural gas companies in the US might have had fewer buyers for their barely profitable (or even loss-making) fields as the technology developed to expand production in turn brought down prices. Keep reading →


Sustained growth in spending on exploration and production across the globe will focus on plays outside North America, a survey from a global bank concludes, despite the country’s growing profile and its potential to become the top global crude producer in coming decades.

Global exploration-and-production spending is poised to reach a record $644 billion by the end of 2013, a semi-annual Barclays analysis predicts. The spending report also foresees strong oil prices, which have emerged as the principal bellwether for growth in E&P budgets. Keep reading →


China’s policymakers are leaning too heavily on investment to boost economic growth, a strategy that could destabilize the world’s second largest economy, according to a paper prepared by International Monetary Fund researchers. The paper, released this week, finds that China needs to lower total investment by about 10% of gross domestic product to correct course. If policymakers do not act, the authors say that “vulnerabilities will continue to build.” China, along with many other developing countries, has long depended on government-funded investment to encourage economic expansion.

For countries with lots of coal looking for clean alternatives to burning it, Synthesis Energy Systems has an answer: use that coal to run cars and make plastics.

That’s not only technically feasible, it’s actually being done commercially in China, Robert Rigdon, SES President and CEO, told Breaking Energy. Keep reading →


China’s economy, the red-hot growth engine that propelled global energy demand to dizzying heights over the last decade, is slowing down “faster than anyone forecast,” and could help keep global oil prices from soaring in a supply disruption.

That according to Edward Morse, Global Head of Commodity Research with Citi Group Global Markets. Speaking to the Department of Energy/National Association of State Energy Officials Winter Fuels Outlook Conference Oct. 10 in Washington, DC, Morse said China’s speedy reduction in import demand, along with the economic woes of the Eurozone, could have a significant leavening effect on world oil prices. Keep reading →

The U.S. Commerce Department will announce a final decision today on duties in the China solar trade dispute that has split the U.S. industry and raised fears of a global trade war. Of course, for several months the government has already been collecting duties on certain Chinese solar imports. And, just to be clear, this won’t be the last word in the case. Keep reading →


Shares of BYD, the Chinese battery and electric car maker in which Warren Buffett is a major investor, tumbled in Hong Kong trading Wednesday after an analyst in China slashed his firm’s target price for the stock to virtually nothing.


Investors who have been burned by holding onto coal stocks this year may finally be feeling the right type of heat. Coal stocks started heating up Friday, after China announced a $156 billion commitment for improving the country’s roads, rails and other infrastructure. With China planning 55 new major infrastructure projects, investors are betting that those projects will rev up demand for coal, which China uses to make steel for its bridges. Coal China’s news gave at least one StockTwits trader a reason to pat himself on the back.


More bad news about China’s factories: The decline in the country’s crucial manufacturing sector got worse last month. A closely-followed report by bank HSBC, released Monday, said export orders for China’s factories slid at the sharpest rate since March 2009. And on Saturday, the Chinese government’s official manufacturing index fell to 49.2 from 50.1 in July. Any reading below 50 indicates that factory activity is shrinking rather than growing. The reports could add further pressure on Chinese government authorities to take steps to reverse the slowdown, which was driven by a slowdown in factory orders, analysts

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