Study On China's Oil Import Security

Oil is the second-largest consumption energy and the vital strategic resource for ensuring national security and steady development of national economy.But 68.53%of China's consumption oil needs to be imported from abroad.China becomes the second-largest oil importer behind the U.S.What's more,China oil dependence on foreign oil may go up further.High dependence on foreign oil threatens China's energy security and national security.Once the international situation is not stable,China's oil import maybe interrupted which will become a big threat to China.China's oil import security means a country is able to acquire stable oil supply without interruption by a reasonable price,to transport the oil into country and to prevent and resist various risks and threatens.Its measurement is established from supply,transportation and price three dimensions which totally contains eight factors,including the concentration of oil import sources,the stability of main oil import sources,the stability of diplomatic relationships between China and the main oil import sources,China's shipping capacity,the unloading capacity of ports,protection for marine transportation,protection for pipeline transportation and China's power in pricing mechanism.Through analyzing China's oil import sources data of 2010-2016 and oil production and net oil export data of main oil sources of 2010-2015,the supply security of China's oil import security is pretty high,with low concentration of oil import sources and steady oil production,net oil export and political situation of main oil sources.The transportation security is a bit low.By analyzing the data of China's VLCC,it's found that,the main problems are shortage of VLCC and shipping capacity,the geopolitical threats in Hormuz Strait and North area of Myanmar,China's lack of sea power in key ocean area,the dangerous geopolitical situation faced by China-Myanmar oil pipeline,and low maintenance capacity for oil pipelines.The price security is extremely low,with China's low pricing power in international oil pricing mechanism and low capacity to avoid price risks.In order to solve the risks,on one hand,China should clearly know the importance of oil import security,and offer direction guidance and supports from points of strategy,policy and system.On the other hand,some specific measures should be taken to solve concrete risks.As for the risks in supply,the corresponding measures include followings.Firstly,apply oil diplomacy to deepen the cooperation between China and main oil sources.Secondly,seek new oil import sources to enhance its diversification.Thirdly,increase China's strategic oil reserve.As to the risks in transportation,the corresponding measures include followings.Firstly,product new VLCCs to improve China's shipping capacity.Secondly,improve China's navy and air force in far ocean protection capacity.Thirdly,apply UN to protect the vital ocean areas such as Strait of Hormuz.Fourthly,positively establish intergovernmental cooperation of emergency maintenance mechanisms and put the pipeline security into the existing regional cooperation framework.As for the risks in price,the corresponding measures include followings.Firstly,accelerate the marketization of China's oil industry.Secondly,reform China's oil product pricing system,pricing by the market and regulated by the government.Thirdly,establish China's own global oil futures market and perfect relevant regulations.Fourthly,promote the internationalization of RMB.