China's energy outlook

Technical Report · Fri Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 1991

OSTI ID:5820552

Fridley, D

Economic reform in China has given a major boost to the development of China's energy industries. Demand for energy has risen steadily in response to the rapid expansion of the economy over the past ten years, while economic liberalization and deregulation have stimulated energy output as the energy industries found new sources of capital, labor, and investment opportunities. In the first half of 1980s, the coal, oil, and electric power industries all experienced accelerating rates of growth. After mid-decade, however, an overheating economy, rising inflation, and lower international oil prices had a serious impact on the vitality of the energy industries. At a time when energy demand was soaring, the state-owned energy industries faced a decline in the real value of their output, excessive debt, falling productivity, and sharply higher costs of production. These trends have continued into 1990 despite the economic slowdown engineered in late 1988 and, if left unmanaged, will constrain the ability of the domestic energy industries to meet the energy needs of China's modernization program. This in turn could lead to progressively higher imports of energy, particularly oil, and could limit the speed and scope of economic expansion in the 1990s and beyond. 2 figs., 18 tabs.

• Research Organization: East-West Center, Honolulu, HI (USA). Resource Systems Inst.
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: FG01-86IE10511
• OSTI ID: 5820552
• Report Number(s): DOE/IE/10511-T1; ON: DE91012412
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING
POLICY AND ECONOMY
CHINA
ENERGY POLICY
CENTRALLY PLANNED ECONOMIES
COAL INDUSTRY
ECONOMIC ANALYSIS
ELECTRIC POWER
ENERGY SOURCES
NATURAL GAS INDUSTRY
NUCLEAR POWER
PETROLEUM
PETROLEUM INDUSTRY
REFINING
TRADE
ASIA
ECONOMICS
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
GOVERNMENT POLICIES
INDUSTRY
POWER
PROCESSING
290400* - Energy Planning & Policy- Energy Resources
294000 - Energy Planning & Policy- Fossil Fuels
298000 - Energy Planning & Policy- Consumption & Utilization