China faces dire energy challenges, says energy official
Wang Yumin vows green growth, as Russia and Canada outline plans to meet global needs
China faces “dire” energy challenges as it tries to lift millions of its people out of poverty and support the aspirations of a burgeoning middle class, a senior Chinese energy official told delegates to WEC 2013. Delivering a speech to the keynote session, The Energy Trilemma: Policy Solutions to Secure Prosperity, together with Russian energy minister Alexander Novak and Joe Oliver, the Canadian minister for natural resources, Wang Yumin, the vice-administrator of China’s National Energy Administration, said China’s energy needs grew by 5.8% per year as the economy grew by 10% per year. “China’s challenges are dire,” Wang said. “There are new sources of demand because China wants to buil
Also in this section
5 March 2026
Gas is a central pillar of Colombia’s energy system, but declining production poses a significant challenge, and LNG will be increasingly needed as a stopgap. A recent major offshore gas discovery offers hope, but policy improvements are also required, Camilo Morales, secretary general of Naturgas, the Colombian gas association, tells Petroleum Economist
4 March 2026
The continent’s inventories were already depleted before conflict erupted in the Middle East, causing prices to spike ahead of the crucial summer refilling season
4 March 2026
The US president has repeatedly promised to lower gasoline prices, but this ambition conflicts with his parallel aim to increase drilling and could be upended by his war against Iran
4 March 2026
With the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed following US-Israel strikes and Iran’s retaliatory escalation, Fujairah has become the region’s critical pressure release valve—and is now under serious threat






