Research On The International Market Power Of China's Crude Oil Import Trade

As the "Blood of Industry ",oil and oil products are not only of great significance to the world's economy and social life,but also are essential to ensure national economic security and maintain the development of social industry.Under the complicated background of the world economic situation,oil trade has been incorporated into the national strategic layout,and the strategic oil reserve has become the key factor for the economic development and foreign strategic interests of each country.In recent years,countries around the world recognize the importance of oil security gradually,and some large oil-consuming countries have continued to strengthen the oil supply and reserve system,and form a multi-channel,diversified and multi-directional oil supply system.For example,the United States promoted the "Shale Revolution" through technological innovation,and reduced dependence on Middle East.China deployed through strategic cooperation with Russia,Myanmar and other countries,and signed a cooperation agreement such as the construction of a cross-border oil pipeline.However,due to technical constraints,China is still the world 's largest oil importer,and its oil external dependence has exceeded 70%.In this context,the increasing dependence on oil imports has led to domestic oil security issues.In the international oil trade system,China's pricing ability not only reflects its position in the international oil market,but also represents China's energy security.Therefore,it is not only necessary to construct a new pattern of opening up,but also to promote the international oil market forces and ensure oil security.It has important practical significances for China's economic development.This paper takes the model of optimal extraction of non-renewable resources proposed by Lin & Zhang(2011),and uses international panel crude oil trade data from 2003 to 2016.From the perspective of the non-renewability of oil resource,this paper researches the international market power of China's oil imports by theoretical and empirical analysis,and empirically tests the actual effects of the two major international strategies,including political relations improvement and overseas mergers and acquisitions.The findings of this paper include:(1)Based on the scarcity of oil resource,the paper shows that the scale of China 's imported crude oil has a significant negative impact on import price,that is to say,China has buyer market power.When China imports oil from exporter,the larger the scale of imports,the lower the cost,and it means that China has absolute advantage in international oil trade negotiations.(2)During the sample period,considering the structural changes by subprime mortgage crisis and "Shale Revolution",this paper takes 2008 as the boundary for a phased regression.From the regression results,it shows that the production cost of exporting countries has significantly decreased the impact on their export prices and the seller's market power have decreased after 2009,and China has a higher pricing power at the time.(3)Considering the influence of OPEC and the status of international oil market,this paper further discusses whether OPEC members and the top 10 countries and regions of China's crude oil import scale.From the results of the regression,China has lower buyer market power in OPEC and the top 10 countries and regions.(4)In the two promotion strategies,the improvement of political relations can effectively promote the decline in the price of oil imports,and reduce the cost of oil imports,it shows that China has a higher buyer market power in the oil import trade.However,foreign investment mergers reduce the buyer market power and increase the cost of China 's oil imports.China 's resource-based enterprises may have combined effects with both political and economic targets.According to the conclusions,this article reveals that China has a certain buyer market power in the oil trade,which has reduced the cost of China 's oil imports.However,with the uncertainty of international economy and politics,China still faces severe energy security problems.Therefore,in order to improve China's energy security,China should continue to deepen its strategic cooperation with neighboring countries in project cooperation,pipeline transportation and oil and gas supply,etc.Meanwhile,consolidating the strategic layout of energy diversification and helping China's energy companies to strengthen overseas investment,and seeking clean energy to reduce high dependence on traditional energy.This paper supplements the research content of oil market power,and provides experience for effectively improving the international market power and ensuring energy security.