Word: oil
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...With crude oil closing in on $100 a barrel, the pinch of higher prices is being felt worldwide. In China, however, the impact of the hikes has been shortages at the pump, and tempers are running hot. Last weekend, a man was fatally stabbed in Shandong province after he jumped the queue at a local gas station. A second man in Henan province was killed in a similar incident Tuesday...
...crisis is largely one of China's own making. To reduce inflationary pressures on its red-hot economy, Beijing has not raised prices at the pump, which are set by the government, since May 2006. In that same period of time, international oil prices have risen about 30%, sticking refineries with spiraling costs for the crude they buy and shrinking profits for the gasoline they sell. Some smaller refineries stopped production altogether to avoid losses, while others begun hoarding their crude supplies, leading to gas shortages around the country...
...domestic gasoline and diesel prices, calling the move an "urgent step" needed to tamp down demand and encourage refiners to ramp up production. The price hike is likely to alleviate the shortages - that is, until the next increase in global crude prices, says Gordon Kwan, a Hong Kong-based oil and gas analyst for CLSA Ltd. "When retail prices [in China] are nearly a third lower than in the rest of the world, why would producers want to boost supply?" Kwan asks. "The best way to solve the problem is to lift government regulation on prices...
...more patient," says Huang Youfeng, waiting in line to fuel his sedan at a Beijing gas station Thursday. "Start the increase at 0.2 renminbi [2.5 cents] per liter - it would have been more acceptable." The irony is that Chinese demand has driven much of the nearly fourfold increase in oil prices since 2000. The country is now the world's second largest consumer of oil products, and consumption has grown 8.7% annually for the past five years. That compares with only 1.5% in the rest of the world...
...South Sudan has come a long way - that's important to recognize," says Shamima Khan of the World Bank's Juba office. In the absence of war, analysts say the key to Juba's future prosperity is the prevention of corruption and the mismanagement of oil money. The southern government also has to find non-oil sources of revenue and to repair broken-down infrastructure. South Sudan literally has to build a nation from dust and rubble. It has yet to implement a system of income taxes and trade duties to regulate the economy. Still, Juba's potential is radiating...