China energy watch

Interfax: These are feature length analytical and statistical reports that have recently appeared in the Interfax China Energy Report Weekly

The costs of hydropower in southwestern China

China is desperately trying to boost hydropower development in its southwestern regions, but at what cost? Local geologists and environmentalists have been criticizing the efforts of the government and the national power companies to carve up the river system of Yunnan , Sichuan , Guizhou and Guangxi, but with massive nationwide power shortages and entrenched local poverty, does the government have a choice?

Shaanxi deals with the "energy curse"

Shaanxi Province is hoping to learn from the mistakes of its neighbor, Shanxi , by using its copious energy reserves to create more sustainable and more value-added industries in the region.

Will the Sino-Burma Pipeline free China from the Malacca Strait ?

If the narrow Malacca Strait is cut off, all of China 's oil imports from Africa and the Middle East will be abruptly terminated. Will the proposed construction of a pipeline from the Burmese coast to Kunming in southwestern China make China 's crude imports more secure?

Tensions mount over the East China Sea

Cooperation might be the best long-term solution to the territorial disputes over the gas resources in the East China Sea , but neither Japan nor China seems willing to back down.

Decades of Sorrow at the Three Gate Gorge

Nature can be brutal, but the attempts to tame it can create an ocean of new problems. In Sanmenxia, or the 'Three Gate Gorge,' situated in central China 's Henan Province , the urge to control and conquer the fearsome Yellow River has led to decades of controversy, and to a heated national debate about the costs and benefits of massive hydropower construction projects. And more than four decades after the reservoir was first filled, plans are still being formulated to improve the operations of the station, even though a number of experts have called for its closure.

Can energy help solve the income gap between eastern and western China ?

The government hoped that various campaigns in the last few years - including the Go West Strategy and the West-East Power Transmission Project - would kill two birds with one stone, developing the resources of western China in order to fulfil the growing demand along the eastern coast? How effective has the strategy been?

CAO: China 's "Barings"

The scandal involving China Aviation Oil and the loss of more than half a billion dollars through ill-advised derivative trading brings to mind another financial disaster in Singapore : NIck Leeson and the Barings Bank. How did the subsidiary of Beijing 's state-owned monopoly jet fuel supplier dig itself so big a hole?

The Sino-Russian Pipeline: Doubts, delays and still no decision

The machinations, negotiations and counterbids for western Siberian oil seem to have settled in favor of Japan, with the Russian government more than likely to build the pipeline to the eastern Pacific coast with the possiblity of a branch to Daqing coming at a later stage.

Developing the Nu

Premier Wen Jiabao has stepped into the debate over the hydropower development on China 's remaining virgin river, the Nu in western Yunnan Province , calling for all construction to come to a halt pending further research. However, experts believe that development will certainly continue.

China and the fate of Yukos

The Byzantine tale of the auction of Yukos's prized production asset seems to have some Chinese involvement, but officials remain tight-lipped about the significance of the visit of CNPC officials to Moscow the day before the auction, and about the loans alleged to have been paid by Chinese banks to Russia's state-owned Rosneft, the eventual buyer of the Yukos assets.

Coal blasts highlight problems of poor technology, overproduction and profiteering

A series of heavy coalmine gas explosions in recent months has drawn attention to the problems of backward safety technology, overproduction in the light of domestic shortages and profiteering by those hoping to take advantage of high prices, and the problem is also affecting large state-owned firms.

Theft in China 's energy industry

A serious of "strike-hard" campaigns against the theft of oil, coal and power infrastructure has put the focus on the problems of security in the industry.

The waste of resources in China 's energy industry

At many Chinese wells, 80% of oil is wasted. The recovery rate at many of the country's coalmines stands at just 30%. With the prevailing shortages, the government is finally addressing the problems of waste in the energy industry.

Transportation and energy development in Yunnan Province

The big hope for the remote regions of southwestern China , including Xishuangbanna in Yunnan Province , lies not only in the development of local resources, but also in the construction of roads and railways capable of transporting the resources further east.

Protecting the Yangtze

The measures to protect the Yangtze River , particularly in the Three Gorges region, are unable to keep up with the increases in pollution, officials have admitted. Some have even said that the river could be as polluted as the Yellow River within a decade.