Bush: China’s demand for crude ‘growing like mad,’ drives U.S. prices

In Washington on April 14, U.S. President George Bush said China’s appetite for crude was primarily to blame for rising oil prices, saying it was “growing like mad.”

“My view of China is, is that it’s a great nation that’s growing like mad,” said Bush, according to a transcript of his remarks made to the American Society of Newspaper Editors convention on the White House Web site.

“And that’s one of the reasons why Americans are seeing over $2 gasoline, is because demand for energy in China is huge, and supply around the world hasn’t kept up with the increase in demand,” he said.

There was no immediate response to Bush’s comments from Beijing.

Prices at the pumps in the United States are around $2.25 per gallon compared to under $1.80 a year ago.

“I will tell you with $55 oil, we don’t need incentives to oil and gas companies to explore,” Bush said. “There are plenty of incentives. What we need is to put a strategy in place that will help this country over time become less dependent.”

China is the world’s second-largest consumer of crude behind the United States, and rising demand in both countries in a time of limited excess production capacity has analysts worried that the oil market is even more vulnerable than usual to supply disruptions.

Oil prices are roughly around 35 percent higher than a year ago despite a 14 percent dip in Nymex crude futures since reaching an intraday high above $58 a barrel April 4 — after the Paris-based International Energy Agency forecast slower demand growth in 2005.

—The Associated Press