China is the world's most populous country and has a rapidly growing economy. China’s real gross domestic product (GDP) is estimated to have grown at 11.4 percent in 2007, while the country has registered average growth of 10 percent since 2000. Alongside strong economic growth, China’s demand for energy is surging rapidly. China has emerged from being a net oil exporter in the early 1990s to become the world’s third-largest net importer of oil in 2006. EIA forecasts that China’s oil demand will grow by over 800,000 barrels per day by 2009, or about 32 percent of the projected world oil demand growth for the period. Natural gas usage in China has also increased rapidly in recent years, and China has looked to increase natural gas imports via pipeline and as liquefied natural gas (LNG). China is also the world’s largest producer and consumer of coal, an important factor in world energy markets.

Coal supplied that vast majority (70 percent) of China’s total energy consumption requirements in 2005. Oil is the second-largest source, accounting for 21 percent of the country’s total energy consumption. While China has made an effort to diversify its energy supplies, hydroelectric sources (6 percent), natural gas (3 percent), and nuclear power (1 percent) account for relatively small amounts of China’s energy consumption mix.