By Florence Tan and Chen Aizhu

China is set to ramp up acquisitions of overseas oil and gas companies to feed its soaring growth in energy demand as the country overtakes the United States as the world's top net oil importer.

Decades of breakneck economic growth pushed China to the top ranking in September, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in a report this week, a position it is set to keep through 2014.

China, already the world's top importer of a number of commodities, has led worldwide oil demand growth for a good part of the past decade, keeping oil prices elevated even as weak Western economies and rising shale output in the United States reduce global consumption.

The long-expected shift may further strengthen China's position in oil markets as East Asia exerts an increasing influence in global trade.

"Growing imports is going to be a driver for acquisitions," said Alex Yap, an energy consultant at FGE in Singapore. "From a nation's point of view, they have a supply security agenda, but from the view of Chinese companies, they are interested to grow themselves into empires."

Difficulties in boosting domestic output have led Chinese companies, including China National Offshore Oil Co (CNOOC) and Sinopec, to spend more than $100 billion since 2009 on oil and gas assets to boost imports, Thomson Reuters data shows.

CNOOC aims to double its annual oil and gas output to 120 million tonnes of oil equivalent from 60 million tonnes, or 2.6 million barrels per day (bpd), by 2020 and to 180 million tonnes by 2030.

Beijing has also spent billions via subsidised lending and aid to secure oil and gas in Africa and South America.

While China does not bring all the oil from its overseas assets back home, access to the fields gives Beijing security of supplies and allows it to better plan its import targets.

"State traders Unipec and Chinaoil are trading more in the global market than the amount they purchase for domestic refining needs," said a trading official familiar with China's crude oil procurement strategies.

"When making overseas acquisitions, they sometimes build refineries as a back-up to secure oil and gas blocks, allowing them flexibility to take either crude oil or refined fuel, or engage in a series of swap deals."

Ambitious and aggressive

The EIA figures show that China's oil consumption outstripped its output by 6.3 million barrels per day (bpd) in September, implying the difference is import demand. The equivalent U.S. gap was 6.13 million bpd.

The drop in U.S. dependence on foreign oil has come from several fronts. New technologies such as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, have led to a boom in oil production that has reversed a decades-long slide in U.S. output.

U.S. output has jumped by 2.8 million bpd since 2008, recently topping 7.8 million bpd, a level not seen since 1989, according to EIA data. Imports of foreign crude have correspondingly dropped off. So far in 2013, they are averaging the lowest level in 16 years.

At the same time, U.S. refiners have taken advantage of supplies of cheap domestic oil to ramp up throughput. U.S. companies have looked overseas for new markets to supply with fuel as domestic demand declines.

U.S. fuel exports have hit record levels over the past two years, and while the EIA noted the level of overseas shipments could fluctuate in the coming months, the overall trend suggests China will soon open up a significant gap as the world's biggest net crude importer.

China is already the world's top buyer of copper, iron ore, soybeans and coal. The country achieved double-digit economic growth for three decades, resulting in increasing demand for fuel, as auto ownership has surged, among other things. Its energy self-sufficiency ended in 1993.

Since then, its oil import dependency has leapt to 58 percent in 2012 and is forecast to reach 70 percent by 2020, consultancy Wood Mackenzie says.

"The centre of gravity of the oil market is shifting east as China's importance in global oil trade continues to increase," said a London-based oil trader who sells to China.

"Chinese trading houses are setting up offices all over and they aren't willing to be a regional player but want to have a global footprint. They are very ambitious, very aggressive."

Growth of China's domestic oil production peaked at about 2 percent a year in 2001, against consumption growth of 6.3 percent the same year and 4.5 percent in 2012.

China's increased dependence on overseas supplies has already led to a more than 30 percent jump in crude oil imports from some countries in the Middle East so far this year.

Higher dependence would mean China may have to take on a larger role in international security, including in the Middle East.

China's assistant foreign minister, Zheng Zeguang, said he has been "paying a lot of attention to this situation."

"On Middle East issues, China has played a consistent and proactive role to promote the appropriate resolution of hot spot issues," he said on the sidelines of a forum. "China will continue to play a role that accords with our national strength."

China is due to release September oil import data on Saturday.

中国取代美国成头号原油进口国后，势将大举展开海外收购

随着中国取代美国成为全球第一大石油净进口国，该国势必加紧对海外油气公司的收购，以满足自身急剧增长的能源需求。

美国能源资料协会(EIA)本周发布的一份报告称，中国在经历几十年的经济飞速增长之后，已经在9月成为最大的石油净进口国，并将在2014年保持这一排名。

过去10年里，中国在全球石油需求增长中占据了很大一部分，因此尽管西方经济陷入疲软且美国页岩油气产出增加，削减了全球石油消费，但石油价格仍保持升势。此外，中国也已经是多种大宗商品的进口大国。

正当东亚在全球贸易中的影响日益增强之际，这样的座次更换或将进一步强化中国在石油市场中的地位。

“进口增长将推动收购行动，”FGE能源顾问Alex Yap表示。“从国家的角度来说，要保证供应安全，而从中国企业的角度来说，他们希望构建自己的帝国。”

根据汤森路透数据，由于国内产量难以提高，中国海洋石油总公司(中海油，CNOOC)和中石化等中国企业自2009年以来斥资逾1,000亿美元收购油气资产以增加进口。

中海油计划到2020年将其油气年产量从6,000万吨油当量提高一倍至1.2亿吨，到2030年达到1.8亿吨。

中国政府还花费数以十亿计美元，通过补贴贷款和援助方式，在非洲和南美取得油气资源。

虽然中国并不把所有海外生产的石油运回国内，但通过获准开采海外油田，中国政府确保了供应安全，并能够更好地安排进口指标。

“国有贸易商中国国际联合石油化工公司和中国联合石油公司在全球市场上交易的石油要多于他们为国内炼厂需要而采购的数量，”一位了解中国原油采购战略的贸易官员说。

“他们进行海外收购时，有时会建立炼厂作为支持，以获得油气资产，从而可以灵活地选择，既可以运走原油或成品油，也可以参与一系列掉期交易。”

EIA数据显示，中国9月每日石油消费量较产量高出630万桶，暗示这其中的差额便是进口需求。美国的缺口为每日613万桶。

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