Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Central Asian Economies in Transition, Hiç Gencer Ayşen E,Gerni C, Editör, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Newcastle Upon Tyne, ss.291-306, 2012
Until the 2000s the leading countries of oil and natural gas consumption
were the USA and the EU, while in the 2000s a third country, China, was
added to this list. Together with her growing economy China’s demand
and consumption of energy have rapidly increased, which elevated her to
the position of an important actor in the energy market. In 2010, China
consumed more energy than the USA and become the leading energy
consumer of the world, with an increase in use of all types of energy, and
the worldwide energy consumption share of China went above 20%
(British Petroleum 2011).
By 2004, China increased her energy consumption by 245% while her
energy production during the same period increased only by 194%. The
ongoing industrialization and urbanization processes increase the demand
for energy while they also mark the gradual inadequacy of national
resources (Bayraç 2010). That is to say, China is becoming more and more
dependent on foreign resources in terms of energy needs, especially for oil
and natural gas (Alkın and Atman 2006). Due to her increasing energy
consumption, increasing with respect to the rapidly growing economy,
China, in the five year development plan for 2011-2015, intends to limit
her annual energy consumption increase rate by 4.24% (Yesil Ekonomi
2011).
China is dependent on the petroleum from Iran and the Middle East
with whom large natural gas-petroleum purchase agreements were signed.
During recent years China has invested in energy in many different parts
of the world, especially in the African countries Sudan and Angola.
However, as the petroleum import from the Middle East is controlled by
the USA, and petroleum and natural gas import from Iran is blocked,
China needs to look for alternatives. While China (with India) became thenew petro-politically determining countries due to their increasing dependence
on foreign resources, energy supply security becomes a vital issue
(Stratejik Arastırmalar Enstitüsü 2011). At this point, the first alternatives
appear to be Central Asia and the Central Asian economies in the region
(Yavuz 2011). The attention is focused especially on Kazakhstan with her
rich petroleum resources and Turkmenistan with rich natural gas
resources.