China will play a major role in shaping long-term global energy trends. Already, China's growing economy has been a driver of global commodity markets in recent years. Soaring Chinese oil and natural gas demand has become a major feature influencing global energy market trends, and emerging shifts in Chinese energy and economic policy could potentially alter the future geopolitical and economic landscape.
As the global recession hit in 2007-2008, China"s NOCs took advantage of depressed asset prices and tight credit in global financial markets to acquire more than $40 billion in oil and gas acquisitions in the hopes of diversifying their portfolios and profiting from an appreciation in assets in the coming decade. These efforts by the Chinese NOCs to shore up their competitiveness by going abroad are supported by the Chinese government in the form of diplomacy, loans or packaged deals whereby oil deals are linked to other trade in minerals, military and agricultural goods. In addition to these substantial oil and gas acquisitions abroad, China also invested more than $54 billion in clean energy projects in 2010, and the country is emerging as a leader in installed wind power capacity.
The conference "The Rise of China and Its Energy Implications" investigates these trends and shifts by bringing together senior Chinese and U.S. officials, leading financial and energy analysts, academic scholars, and global oil industry leaders to address the emerging path of China's energy sector as a transforming energy landscape shapes China"s economic role in relation the United States. At the conference, findings from a major Baker Institute energy study will be publicly released. The study includes papers on Chinese energy policy and energy demand trends, Chinese oil and gas investment trends, and energy in the U.S.-China bilateral relationship.
The Baker Institute would like to thank Chevron Corporation and The Institute of Energy Economics, Japan, for their generous support.
To download the event agenda and speaker bios, please click here.
Agenda
9:00 am Opening Session
"Welcoming Remarks"
The Honorable Edward P. Djerejian, Founding Director, James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy
"An Organizational Perspective on Long-term Economic Competitiveness in the U.S. versus China"
Edward Steinfeld, Professor of Political Economy, Department of Political Science, MIT
Co-Director of the MIT China Group, MIT Industrial Performance Center
Author, "Playing Our Game: Why China's Rise Doesn't Threaten the West"
"China"s Future Role as a Price Maker in Global Commodities Markets"
Edward L. Morse, Managing Director, Global Head of Commodities, Citigroup
"China"s Economic Outlook and Role in the Global Economy"
Yan Wang, Managing Editor, China Investment Strategy, BCA Research
"Financial Imbalances and the China Bubble"
Mahmoud A. El-Gamal, Will Clayton Fellow in International Economics, James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy
10:45 am Coffee Break
11:00 am Panel I: U.S. and Chinese Energy Demand Trends to 2030
"China"s Oil Sector: Trends and Uncertainties"
Alan Troner, President, Asia Pacific Energy Consulting
"Long-Term Energy Outlook in the U.S. and China from the Present Until 2030"
Rob E. Gardner, Manager, Economics & Energy Division, ExxonMobil Corporation
"Vehicle Stocks in China: Consequences for Oil Demand"
Ronald Soligo, Professor of Economics, Rice University
"Outlook for China: LNG and Natural Gas"
Kenneth B. Medlock III, James A. Baker III and Susan G. Baker Fellow in Energy and Resource Economics, James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy
1 pm Lunch
2:15 pm Baker Institute Study Overview
"The Rise of China and Its Energy Implications - Key Findings"
Amy Myers Jaffe, Wallace S. Wilson Fellow for Energy Studies, James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy
2:30 pm Panel II: Chinese Energy Strategy and Environmental Policy
"Carbon Management in China: The Effects of Decentralization and Privatization"
Steven W. Lewis, C.V. Starr Transnational China Fellow, James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy
"China's Energy Security"
Hongtu Zhao, Deputy Director, Institute of World Economics, CICIR
"China and Latin America"
David Mares
Baker Institute Scholar for Latin America Energy Studies
"China's Low Carbon Strategies"
Yoshikazu Kobayashi, Institute of Energy Economics, Japan
3:45 pm Coffee Break
4:00 pm Closing Session and Keynotes: Energy and U.S.-China Relations
James Russell, Associate Professor, Department of National Security Affairs, Naval Postgraduate School
Joe Barnes, Bonner Means Baker Fellow, James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy
Watch video of the entire conference:
