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> The part often glossed over is that while the U.S. and Russia both have large oil reserves and domestic production capabilities, China has virtually nothing i
by junto 2y ago
> The part often glossed over is that while the U.S. and Russia both have large oil reserves and domestic production capabilities, China has virtually nothing in comparison.
China is 13th of the list with an estimated 25.1 billion barrels of untapped oil reserves.
The U.S. is 9th in the list with 55 billion barrels. Venezuela tops the list with and estimated 303 billion barrels.
China also has a long term strategic policy on resource management. Long term strategic planning is deep within Chinese cultural psyche.
Wondering around certain regions of China you’ll see many capped wells, and when you ask a Chinese official about them, one may be lucky to get the real answer as to why they are capped and not being used.
The answer given was “why use ours now? We use everyone else’s until it’s all gone, and then we use ours”.
China is playing the long game. It’s a slow patient 2000 year old culture that had an odd blip 100 years ago and is now moving back to business as usual. Underestimate China at your peril.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_proven_oil_reserves https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_proven_...
- nostrademons 2y agoThose are reserves that are economically recoverable at current prices. The U.S. has absolutely enormous deposits of shale oil that can be (and are, right now) mined with current technology, they are just more expensive than liquid oil and so generally not economically worth it at current prices. In the event of a major geopolitical conflict that sends the price of oil skyrocketing, you can bet that the U.S. is going to tap its estimated 2.175 trillion barrels of shale oil reserves. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_reserves_in_the_United_States#Oil_shale https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_reserves_in_the_United_Sta...
- M95D 2y ago> The answer given was “why use ours now? We use everyone else’s until it’s all gone, and then we use ours”. I think that's the lie, not the real answer. I don't know about China, but an unused oil well fills with sand very quick in most regions. Production can't be restarted after that. A new well is needed. That doesn't mean they can't abandon an oil well that still have oil with the intention of digging another one later, it's just very expensive to do it.
- anemoiac 2y agoNot saying I agree that this is an actual Chinese strategy, but the idea is that, for now, they just don't drill production wells that pull from these reserves, not that they stop producing from existing wells.
- suraci 2y ago> The answer given was “why use ours now? We use everyone else’s until it’s all gone, and then we use ours”. I can not say it's true or not I can say, when we(Chinese) are children, there's a saying that Japan was storing oil and coal on the seabed near its coast, and the reason: “why use ours now? We use everyone else’s until it’s all gone, and then we use ours”