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Article: Oil is like milk; China needs to buy a refrigerator, not a cow for the backyard.(Business Report)
- Article from:
- The Star (South Africa)
- Article date:
- July 31, 2006
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 Independent News & Media PLC. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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BYLINE: Andy Mukherjee
If your life depended on drinking a glass of milk every day, would you buy a cow?
That's what Chinese planners must ask as they evaluate a push to buy energy assets in countries ranging from Sudan to Angola to Iran, which has prompted state-owned oil firms to spend $15 billion (R103 billion) in the past five years.
Agreed, the world's second-biggest car market after the US needs every drop of oil it can get. And China isn't the only country that has begun to equate energy security with the physical possession of oil-producing assets; India, for one, has launched a copycat drive.
Whereas the Chinese have bought ...