Quantifying China's oil import risks and the impact on the national economy

Abstract

With an increase in China's oil imports, China's oil supply will also continue to be effected by the socio-economic stability of oil-exporting countries and the safety of oil transport routes. This paper introduces a systematic and quantitative method to evaluate the influence of China's oil import risks (OIR) on the national economy and industrial sectors from a perspective of apply chain process. For this analysis, China's OIR is quantified by integrating oil exporting country risk and the risks from oil transportation routes. Country risk is defined as the oil-exporting country's political risk caused by political changes or internal conflicts. Transport risk is defined as the risk of shipping routes affected by pirate attacks and geopolitics. Second, the relationship between China's OIR and oil import costs is analyzed using a multiple linear approach. Third, an input–output analysis method is used to research the effect of the cost of China's oil imports on the cost of investment within China's domestic sectors. This research finds that the corresponding impact on GDP is 3494.5 million dollars given an increasing by 10% of China's OIR. And the impact on domestic sectors differs from sector to sector. Finally, this paper puts forth recommendations to improve long-term oil supply security in China.