Oil Market Outlook Gets Lost in (Chinese) Translation
Cnooc, CNPC and Sinopec, China’s state-owned oil giants, have boosted the nation’s domestic oil production to a record.
Cnooc, CNPC and Sinopec, China’s state-owned oil giants, have boosted the nation’s domestic oil production to a record.
Photographer: Philippe Lopez/AFP/Getty Images
“Drill, baby, drill” is an all-American slogan, a capitalist rallying cry to pump more oil no matter what. Ironically, communist China is, with little fanfare, following exactly that playbook, and with impressive results: creating an oil gusher that sent domestic production to an all-time high last month, further exacerbating a global glut of crude.
The surge reflects the high priority that Beijing places on sustaining — and increasing — local fossil-fuel production for energy security despite booming domestic electric-vehicle sales. Call it “zuan ba, bao bei, zuan ba” — the oil mantra translated into Mandarin.
Spending billions of dollars via state-owned China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC), China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (Sinopec) and Cnooc Ltd., Beijing has reversed a decline in domestic production that started in 2015. By the turn of the decade, output had stabilized, and by around 2023 it was clear that Chinese output was surging; I called it the most overlooked oil boom. The final confirmation came last week with the publication of official data for early 2025, which showed output approaching a record 4.6 million barrels a day in March.