For many years now, the state of China’s economy has been one of the most important determinants of the oil price. The vast disparity between China’s oil needs to power its economy on the one hand, and its lack of oil reserves on the other, meant that it almost single-handedly created and sustained the commodities ‘supercycle’ seen over various extended periods from the early 1990s. This was characterised by consistently rising price trends for many commodities used in China’s booming manufacturing and infrastructure build-out environment. China’s economic growth-led energy needs resulted in its becoming the world’s ... (full story)