History of oil and gas in China - Research Paper Example

With a mounting population of more than 1.3 billion people, China depends greatly on other countries for prime resources, for example, oil and gas. In order to enhance its association with other Southeast Asian nations, China always considers diplomatic action over military intervention, especially in regards to disputed territories like the Scarborough Shoal in South China Sea. China is frequently involved in a political clash with Malaysia; perhaps, it is due mainly to the two countries' diplomatic dissimilarities.

Nevertheless, China's ties with Malaysia are interdependent in that China relies on the huge oil and gas resources of Malaysia in return of China's defense policy and assurance for Malaysia. At the present, Malaysia is the largest producer of petroleum products in the Southeast Asian region, constituting more than fifty [Student’s Last Name] 2 percent of the oil and gas production in area (Global Security, "South China Sea and Natural Gas"). Ironically with China, while it possesses significant deposits of oil and gas reserves, they do not substantially account to the world’s aggregate oil supply; its natural gas reserves is merely one over twenty of the world’s oil and gas reserves (Li and Du 1). . Early on in history, about 500 B.C., consistent with some historical accounts about China, the old Chinese express about wells with depth of 100 feet holding significant volume of water and natural gas.

Also, the Chinese were pioneers in conceptualizing the use of bamboos to serve as pipelines to draw natural gas and oil from wells. These recovered gas and oil were originally used for lighting (Business Reference Services, "History of Oil and Gas Industry"). In addition, the Chinese eventually ventured in searching and excavating wells with depths of over 2000 feet (American Petroleum Institute, "All about Petroleum - As Old as History"). While China was the first country to venture in the exploration and excavation of oil and natural gas reserves, it was not the first country to take innovative approaches in developing petroleum products like kerosene, gasoline, etc.

It commenced to adapt a modernistic method in developing oil and gas products only during the 1950s. Even up to the present, China is comparatively [Student’s Last Name] 3 fresher in modern oil and gas discovery and production compared to the US. Initially, China was an oil importer but later managed to become independent; and even became an exporter between 1965 and 1993; however, it went back to being an importer in 1993 (Li and Du 1). At first, China imported oil products such as Kerosene in 1863; and in 1949, the country independently produced crude oil; nonetheless, China’s need for oil exports from other countries was never eradicated until after the discovery of the enormous Daqing oil ground in the 1960s that made China ultimately oil-independent (1).

Eventually, from being an oil importer, China turned out to be an oil exporter. In fact, between 1978 and 1985,