By Michael Economides and Xina Xie in Energy Tribune:

While China has been praised by some Western politicians and pundits, including Al Gore for the country’s miniscule non-hydrocarbon activities (“… we will trail China in the race to develop smart grids, fast trains, solar power, wind, geothermal and other renewable sources of energy”), it is China’s global pursuit of oil and gas that has grown to a crescendo. The Chinese refer to their recent purchases as global acquisition and diversification. But amidst the maelstrom of global warming rhetoric, their aggressive moves are getting precious little attention.

China’s latest purchase came last month when PetroChina paid $1.7 billion to buy a 60% stake in a Canadian oil sands operation from Athabasca Oil Sands Corp. The production from the oil sands investment is expected to be as high as 500,000 barrels per day under full development. The Canadian acquisition is among the latest in China’s shopping spree for…

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