Fossil fuels continue fueling China’s rapidly expanding economy:

Putin’s action started loading oil onto a 100,000-ton tanker at the far east port of Kozmino, east of Vladivostok, launching a much-anticipated new export route to Hong Kong that will help satisfy Asia’s growing need for energy.

The oil had already traveled far just to reach Kozmino, located near Russia’s borders with China and North Korea. Russia’s new East Siberia-Pacific Ocean (ESPO) oil pipeline originates in Tayshet, to the northwest of Lake Baikal in Russia’s Irkutsk Oblast. From there, it heads east for nearly 3,000 kilometers before reaching Skovorodino (Amur Oblast) where the fuel is loaded onto a train for the 2,100-kilometer trip to Kozmino.

Russia’s Transneft oil-transport company spent some US$12 billion to build the new oil pipeline and will have to spend another $10 billion to complete the pipeline from Skovorodino to Kozmino. Transneft also spent some $2 billion building a new terminal at Kozmino.

The article later notes that this development will eventually allow Russia to export 30 tons of oil to China annually.

International Energy Agency:

At a press conference in London on Tuesday, 10 November, the IEA Executive Director Nobuo Tanaka and Chief Economist Fatih Birol presented the results of the World Energy Outlook 2009 (WEO). The WEO 2009 looks at the impact of the economic downturn on energy use, CO2 emissions and energy investment and what will be required at the UN climate conference in Copenhagen to put together an agreement that stops global temperatures rising at a price that is affordable. The WEO also focuses on the natural gas resource base, current trends and the role gas will play in the future energy mix. The book includes a review of energy in Southeast Asia, looking at this fast-growing region and its implications for global energy markets.

Here is the Executive Summary: