China in the liberal oil market order

Abstract

In the early 21 st century, the USD 64,000 Question has been whether China is actually integrating into the liberal world order. In this paper I concentrate on one segment of that order: the oil market order. I question the argument that in the present century the oil market order has moved away from being "liberal capitalist" towards becoming "state-capitalist" as a consequence of the rise of China and Chinese preferences. I argue that China has neither changed nor has had the power to change the international oil market order. To demonstrate this, I evaluate China's behavior towards the three pillars of the liberal oil market order. The first pillar is the United States' role as the underwriter of the global oil supply. The US guarantees oil security mainly through its military presence in the Persian Gulf, the most important region for oil exports. The US also guarantees the security of sea lines of communication. The second pillar is the ownership structure of the oil industry, where state-owned and privately-owned companies coexist. The third pillar is the currency of the oil trade (the US dollar) and its market-driven pricing system. It replaced the system of OPEC-administered prices that existed between 1973 and 1988. Pricing power moved away from OPEC to the so-called "market". In the period 2000-2020, China did not challenge any of those three pillars. China may be a mercantilist power, but in the first two decades of the 21 st century it remained within the liberal oil market order.

Torrefaction of Willow in Batch Reactor and Co-Firing of Torrefied Willow with Coal

“…In the Greater Poland Voivodeship, the oldest brittle willow is in the Klempicz, Lubasz municipality. It is 166 years old, has a circumference of 741 cm, a diameter of 235 cm, and a height of 17 m [7]. It is most commonly considered a weeping variety of the white willow with drooping branches and is widespread throughout Europe.…”