#China needs to add to its #gold #reserves to ensure national economic and financial safety

China needs to add to its gold reserves to ensure national economic and financial safety, promote CNY globalization and as a hedge against foreign reserve risks according to an official from the department of international economic affairs of the ministry of foreign affairs. 

Read more here: China needs to add to its gold reserves to ensure national economic and financial safety

U.S. to become biggest #oil producer and energy independent

#USA will overtake #Saudi Arabia to become the world's biggest oil producer before 2020, and will be energy independent 10 years later

U.S. to become biggest oil producer and energy independent - Nov. 12, 2012

Oil and gas boom puts US on track for energy independence

LONDON (CNNMoney) -- The United States will overtake Saudi Arabia to become the world's biggest oil producer before 2020, and will be energy independent 10 years later, according to a new forecast by the International Energy Agency.
The recent resurgence in oil and gas production, and efforts to make the transport sector more efficient, are radically reshaping the nation's energy market, reported Paris-based IEA in its World Energy Outlook.
North America would become a net exporter of oil around 2030, the global organization said Monday.
"The United States, which currently imports around 20% of its total energy needs, becomes all but self sufficient in net terms -- a dramatic reversal of the trend seen in most other energy importing countries," the IEA stated.
The U.S. is experiencing an oil boom, in large part thanks to high world prices and new technologies, including hydraulic fracking, that have made the extraction of oil and gas from shale rock commercially viable.
From 2008 to 2011, U.S. crude oil production jumped 14%, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Natural gas production is up by about 10% over the same period.


According to the IEA, U.S. natural gas prices will rise to $5.5 per million British thermal units (MBtu) in 2020, from around $3.5 per MBtu this year, driven by rising domestic demand rather than a forecast increase in exports to Asia and other markets.
"In our projections, 93% of the natural gas produced in the United States remains available to meet domestic demand," it said. "Exports on the scale that we project would not play a large role in domestic price setting."
North America's new role in the world energy markets will accelerate a change in the direction of international oil trade toward Asia, and underscore the importance of securing supply routes from the Middle East to China and India.
The IEA said it expects global energy demand to increase by more than a third by 2035, with China, India and the Middle East accounting for 60% of the growth, and more than outweighing reduced demand in developed economies.
That will push world average oil import prices up to $125 per barrel (in 2011 dollars) by 2035, from around $100 per barrel at present, but they could be much higher if Iraq fails to deliver on its production potential.
Iraq is set to become the second largest oil exporter by the 2030s, as it expands output to take advantage of demand from fast growing Asian economies.

New fuel economy standards in the U.S. and efforts by China, Japan and the European Union to reduce demand would help to make up for a disappointing decade for global energy efficiency.
"But even with these and other new policies in place, a significant share of the potential to improve energy efficiency -- four-fifths of the potential in the buildings sector and more than half in industry -- still remains untapped," the IEA stated.
Policymakers are still missing out on potential benefits for energy security, economic growth and the environment.
Growth in demand over the years to 2035 would be halved and oil demand would peak just before 2020, if governments took action to remove barriers preventing the implementation of energy efficiency measures that are already economically viable, the global organization said.

U.S. to become biggest oil producer and energy independent - Nov. 12, 2012

The MasterMetals Blog

Shanghai plans #gold #ETFs as #China seeks to expand market

China is keen to further open up its domestic gold market to the international community, with Shanghai looking at gold exchange-traded funds as the market matures.

Shanghai plans gold ETFs as China seeks to expand market

Author: Rujun Shen and Polly Yam
Posted: Monday , 12 Nov 2012 HONG KONG (Reuters)  - 
China, set to surpass India as the world's top gold consumer this year, is keen to further open up its domestic market for the precious metal to the international community, with Shanghai looking at gold exchange-traded funds as the market matures.
Hoping to tap resilient Chinese demand for bullion as gold prices head for their twelfth straight year of gains, the Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE) also said it would launch an interbank market early next month.
"As the domestic market matures and opens up, the exchange will launch over-the-counter trading, gold ETFs, Friday night trading and improve the leasing market," SGE Chairman and President Wang Zhe told a precious metals industry conference in Hong Kong on Monday.
The gold ETFs will be traded on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges, said Zheng Zhiguang, general manager at Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd.
"There is no doubt that gold ETF products will be launched in China. It's entered a study phase on regulation and operation," Zheng said on the sidelines of the event.
"It will begin as a domestic market, but with future development it can become a global market," he said, adding some of the gold investment products that the bank offers would be linked to ETFs in the future.
But immediate focus is on the launch of an interbank market that will start with spot contracts and gradually offer forward contracts.
All banks trading on the China Foreign Exchange Trading System and National International Funding Centre will eventually be able to trade in the market, including foreign banks, Wang said.
"In the beginning it will pilot with Chinese banks and eventually be open to all," Wang told Reuters.
Currently near three-week highs above $1,730 an ounce, spot gold has gained nearly 11 percent this year, its safe-haven appeal boosted by a shaky global economy.
INTEGRATE WITH GLOBAL MARKET
China's gold market is expanding because of strong domestic demand for the metal, said Xie Duo, g eneral director of the financial market department of the People's Bank of China.
The central bank's policy is to encourage residents to hold physical gold, he said, but declined to comment on the PBOC's own gold buying activity.
"Later on, we will further open up the market and quicken the steps to integrate into the international market," said Xie, without providing details.
"We should actively create conditions for the gold market to become integrated with the international gold market."
But Xie said the central bank has not set a timeline for issuing more gold import licences.
Beijing strictly regulates gold imports and exports and has so far only given licences to nine commercial banks, including Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China and China Construction Bank.
Still, Chinese banks have been increasing their gold trading on the domestic over-the-counter (OTC) market.
Chinese banks are also allowed to trade gold on the international OTC markets for their own books but not allowed to trade on behalf of their clients, Xie told Reuters.
For now, the central bank has no plan to look into when and how China would allow commercial banks to trade gold through the international OTC markets for their clients, Xie said. "That is not the development direction," he added.
China has official gold reserves of 1,054.1 tonnes, the world's sixth-largest, which account for under 2 percent of its total reserves, according to the World Gold Council.
Top gold holder the United States has more than 76 percent of its reserves in its 8,133.5 tonnes of gold holdings.
(Writing by Manolo Serapio Jr.; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Joseph Radford)


Shanghai plans gold ETFs as China seeks to expand market - GOLD ANALYSIS - Mineweb.com Mineweb