We've seen this coming for quite a while, but now it's official: China is the top energy consumer in the world. The U.S. had held that title for the last, oh, 100 years or so.
The Paris-based International Energy Agency, which apparently keeps track of such things, says China used 2,252 million tons of oil equivalent last year, compared to 2,170 million tons for the U.S. For some idea of just how fast the train is rolling, The Wall Street Journal says China's energy consumption was half the U.S.'s just 10 years ago.
"The crazy thing about China's passing of the U.S.," says Tim Hanson, co-advisor of our Motley Fool Global Gains international investing service, "is that its consumption still remains well below the U.S. on a per capita basis." In other words, "With more than 1.3 billion people rapidly growing wealthier and consuming more energy, expect China's energy consumption to continue to rise for the next decade or more."
Tim recently recommended Banco Latinoamericano de Exportaciones
The state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corporation, CNOOC Limited
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