BBC News, Shanghai
By Chris Hogg

China’s second biggest oil and gas company has secured a 20-year supply of gas from Papua New Guinea.  It is the latest in a series of moves by Chinese companies to secure resources to feed the country’s growing economy.  Sinopec, which is owned by the Chinese government, will buy around 2m tonnes of liquefied natural gas each year.

The LNG supply will come from a project being developed by Exxon Mobil and other investors.  When cold weather came to China earlier than usual this year, gas shortages were reported in several parts of the country.  Only the timing was unusual. There are similar problems every year.

Energy hunger

China’s economy is expected to grow 8% in 2009.  That pace of growth puts increasing pressure on supply of resources like oil and gas.  This deal will help Sinopec to meet the demand from its customers, the company says.  The gas will be chilled to a liquid in Papua New Guinea and shipped to a port in eastern China where it will be converted back and piped to where it is needed.

Earlier this year another big Chinese energy company, PetroChina Limited, secured a similar deal to buy $41bn (£24.8bn) worth of natural gas from Australia. It is not clear yet how much PetroChina is paying to secure this new supply.

Chinese companies have signed contracts to import oil and gas from the Gulf, Africa, Central Asia and elsewhere.  They are often prepared to consider deals that firms from Western countries might not be so interested in, either because of political considerations, or other logistical difficulties.    more …

The New York Times
By REUTERS
Published: October 18, 2009

TAIPEI — At shops in the bustling Xinyang market in Shanghai, fake Apple iPhones and Bose speakers were displayed alongside bootleg copies of Microsoft’s Windows 7 operating system, a week before it officially was to go on sale.

“Which version do you want? Ultimate? Normal? English or Chinese?” one shopkeeper asked, proudly pointing out her ample supply of discs packed in unmarked white boxes.

People in mainland China have been able to buy pirated copies of the newest version of Microsoft’s Windows franchise this month for just 20 yuan, or $2.93, each — a fraction of list prices, which are as high as $320.

Windows 7’s “early release” in China underscores the challenge major software makers face in trying to make money in China, the world’s second-largest PC market, after the United States.

The U.S. research firm IDC estimated that about 80 percent of software sold in China last year was pirated. While that figure is falling, it is still double the global average and about four times the average in developed markets like the United States and Japan.   more …

BBC News
16 October 2009 05:37 UK

The US Treasury has criticised China for what it described as the lack of flexibility of the Chinese currency, the yuan.  It also criticised the rapid build-up of China’s foreign exchange reserves in a report to the US Congress.  The Treasury said it had serious concerns about the rigidity of China’s exchange rate.  But it stopped short of accusing China of currency manipulation, a politically contentious issue in the past.  “Both the rigidity of the renminbi and the reacceleration of reserve accumulation are serious concerns which should be corrected to help ensure a stronger, more balanced global economy consistent with the G-20 framework,” the Treasury report said.

Undervalued?

The yuan, which has depreciated 6.9% against the dollar since February 2009, remains “undervalued”, the report said.  China’s foreign exchange reserves, already the world’s largest, jumped nearly 20% from a year ago to a record $2.27 trillion at the end of September, the Chinese central bank said.  Some US lawmakers and industry groups allege that China keeps its currency at artificially low levels against the dollar to gain advantages in trade.    more …