Crude oil info

“Last year, China passed the U.S. as the world’s largest market for cars and trucks,” says Chris Mayer. “There are over 40 million vehicles in China now, and the Chinese bought 13.5 million vehicles last year. They are car crazy in China.”

“That means the world will need to boost [oil] refining capacity. In fact, world refining capacity got a big boost from 2006-2008 as it grew from 5 million barrels per day (mbd) to 8.6 mbd. That’s a 72% increase. By 2013, based on what’s in the hopper now, another 68 mbd will come online. Of that, only about 6 mbd is net new capacity, as the rest replaces existing capacity that is closing down. Still, that’s a 70% net increase -- nearly equal to the prior boom.”

Most of this new capacity is coming from Asia, followed by the Middle East, as this next chart shows.

“Over the next few years in China alone, there are five-six big new refineries planned. Each will have the capacity to produce at least 200,000 bpd.”