The Fact and Fiction of Sino-African Energy Relations
Article from: OGEL 1 (2008), in China Energy Law and Policy
Introduction
The expanding footprint in Africa of China's national oil companies (NOCs)[1] lies at the heart of concerns of many policy-makers and pundits in the United States and Europe. China's deepening engagement with Africa is viewed as an erosion of their own interests and influence on the continent.[2] The conventional wisdom about China's NOCs in Africa has two parts. It sees the companies prevailing in the competition to gain access to African oil as part of a highly-coordinated government strategy to ensure that China's burgeoning demand for oil is satisfied. Moreover, it is alleged that this ...