© Andy Buchanan / ReutersA section of the BP Eastern Trough Area Project (ETAP) oil platform is seen in the North Sea
While all the talk in geopolitical circles has been of the West's "Pivot to Asia," China's influence in the UK is causing headaches, as attention falls on the ownership of two major British oil fields by Chinese state-run companies.
Comment: What are they worried about? China has not done anything that would give reason for such concern. All they are doing is taking advantage of oil in the North Sea. Most likely the West would prefer that China would stay out of its neighborhood, but that's a wish that the West clearly does not follow themselves, so it's hard to blame the Chinese for doing exactly what they see the West doing.
According to a report from The Times, firms governed by state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) are so embedded in the UK oil industry that they stand to get some £2 billion in tax breaks and now pump out as much as 200,000 barrels per day.
The Times also claims that CNOOC's former boss, Wang Yilin, told Communist Party officials in 2012 that oil rigs were "mobile national territory and a strategic weapon."
Comment: That sounds like a rather untrue claim. If it is true, sources need to be given. Otherwise it just comes across as Western demonizing of China.
Given the recent decline in yields, China's continuing dominance of UK oil is now puzzling experts, who have begun to fear that control of the fields has more to do with influence than profit.
"North Sea oilfields are running down and becoming increasingly expensive for oil producers," Jeffrey Henderson, a Bristol University development professor, told the paper.
"In narrow terms, the state overseas oil company will be pouring money into the region for no particularly obvious gain.
Comment: Unless, of course, the Chinese know full well that oil fields often replenish themselves...
"It may be part of a general strategy to boost the credibility and legitimacy of Chinese companies operating within Europe," he said, adding that it could be all about "soft power."
Comment: Better 'soft power' than psychopathic, mass murdering power, any day.
The UK's concerns about Chinese influence in British energy became apparent when Prime Minister Theresa May effectively froze a deal for another state-run Chinese firm to take a major role in financing a project to build a new UK nuclear power plant in Hinkley, Dorset.
On August 16, she was forced to write to China to placate suspicions over the stalled project.
The letter followed a period of tensions over the future of the £18 billion (US$23.4 billion) arrangement, after UK intelligence warned that Chinese investment in a British nuclear power could compromise national security.
If the deal goes ahead, it would see French company EDF build two nuclear reactors for the Somerset plant, which would be partly funded by China General Nuclear Power.
Has anyone considered the possibility that oil may be essential for the planet as a source of insulation and lubrication, without which the foundation of our Earth will suffer?