Significant Increase of Oil and Natural Gas Reserves throughout 2013

China＇s Ministry of Land and Resources announced on 27th February 2014 that proven reserves of oil, natural gas and coal continued to increase significantly, and that their production shows a steady increase. This greatly improves China＇s support capacity of fossil fuel resources.

Approach and potential of replacing oil and natural gas with coal in China

China’s fossil energy is characterized by an abundance of coal and a relative lack of oil and natural gas.Developing a strategy in which coal can replace oil and natural gas is,therefore,a necessary and practical approach to easing the excessive external dependence on oil and natural gas.Based on the perspective of energy security,this paper proposes a technical framework for defining the substitution of oil and natural gas with coal in China.In this framework,three substitution classifications and 11 industrialized technical routes are reviewed.Then,three scenarios(namely,the cautious scenario,baseline scenario,and positive scenario)are developed to estimate the potential of this strategy for 2020 and 2030.The results indicate that oil and natural gas replaced by coal will reach 67 to 81 Mt and 8.7 to 14.3 Gm^3 in 2020 and reach 93 to 138 Mt and 32.3 to 47.3 Gm^3 in 2030,respectively.By implementing this strategy,China’s external dependence on oil,natural gas,and primary energy is expected to be curbed at approximately 70%,40%,and 20%by 2030,respectively.This paper also demonstrates how coal,as a substitute for oil and natural gas,can contribute to carbon and pollution reduction and economic cost savings.It suggests a new direction for the development of the global coal industry and provides a crucial reference for energy transformation in China and other countries with similar energy situations.

Politics of Oil and Natural Gas vis-à-vis the Foreign Policy of Iran

This study discusses the relationship of Iran’s oil and gas resources with its foreign policy.Because these resources play a major role in government power,they serve as a major focus of Iran’s governmental policy and relations with other countries.Our review led us to conclude that despite Iran’s abundant reserves􀃼the world’s fourth-largest crude oil and largest natural gas reserves-international powers influenced the country’s foreign policy sufficiently for Iran to decrease its oil production.The authors will demonstrate how fluctuations in oil and natural gas production were the outcome of a globalized structure that affected instability in Iran’s foreign policy in specific ways.Our conceptual investigation of energy politics after the 1979 revolution revealed different policies that caused numerous concerns for the new government.While Iran’s politicians strove to retain the Islamic Republic above all,both doctrine and foreign policy revolved circuitously from a radical 1979 Revolution position to renewed radical position in 2005 with two intermediate shifts in position.One was pragmatic shift in the late 1980s,and the second took a more moderate tone in late 1990s by focusing almost entirely on the production of oil and natural gas.

The Future of Oil Industry

Oil and gas are the major energy resources all over the world but are not renewable. According to their present reserves, the resource volumes yet to be found and the large amount of non-conventional oil and gas resources, there is still great potential in oil and gas production. The proportion ofoil and gas in energy structure will be influenced by four major factors： 1） Potential of the world oil and gas resources; 2） Technological progress of oil and gas exploration and development; 3） Speed of the development of substitute energy resources; and 4） Variation ofoil price. It is estimated that, oil and gas will still retain an important proportion in energy structure by the first half of the 21st century.

Maintaining Cooperation within Competition:The Inevitable Path of China’s Energy Cooperation in the Middle East

The multi-polarization of political situation creates beneficial conditions for Chinese petroleum corporations to enter foreign market of prospecting and drilling of oil and natural gas resources.Chinese petroleum corporations should adopt“Outward Expansion”strategy and directly participate in international gaming over the cooperative development and drilling of overseas oil and natural gas resources.On this aspect,the government should not only enhance its macro strategic guidance to Chinese petroleum corporations,but also offer more support by means of preferential policies so as to provide more encouragement to these corporations.Furthermore,the government should strengthen its toughness and intensity on its extension of energy diplomacy.In order to make some achievement in the reform and evolution of geopolitical pattern concerning energy of the world,China should maximize its national interest on energy strategy through“cooperation against the background of competition,”so as to obtain a guarantee on the stable and safe long-term supply of overseas energy for sustained development and smooth rise of China.The model of“Cooperation against the Background of Competition”not only fits for the domestic conditions of China,but also suits the trend of development on the energy market of the world.