China - a Threat or an Opportunity?

Colin Woodward, Woodward International, UK.

China cannot be ignored. The world’s most populous nation, with a growth rate (until 2008), consistently around 10%pa, impacts on our lives daily. Most consumer electronics sold in the west are now Chinese-made. In major Chinese cities, bicycles have largely been replaced by cars. The annual numbers of engineering graduates and the volume of construction are mind-boggling. This development will surely continue, although slower. What is its impact on the natural gas processing industry?

China has huge resources of people and coal but is relatively deficient in gas and oil. The hydrocarbons industry is dominated by three huge, state-controlled companies, PetroChina, Sinopec and CNOOC. The gas-deficiency is being addressed by construction of LNG import terminals and of pipelines from the producing fields in the western Xinjiang province to the industrialised regions on the east and south coasts. From personal experiences, both as a supplier to, and purchaser from, China of catalysts and absorbents since 1989 the speaker will try to assess the business potential for collaboration with this huge, but challenging, partner. Obvious requirements include patience, commercial awareness and influential connections (Guanxi).

An important conclusion is that it is dangerous to generalise. The People’s Republic today offers both opportunities and threats but the threat to opportunity ratio seems likely to increase as its depth of experience increases.