India To Join China

India has joined China as thirsty oil consumer. The two countries now are bidding up energy prices and racing against each other and against global energy companies in a fight for oil and natural gas fields around the world.

Energy economists in the West admire the industrial success of both China and India, but they worry about the effect on energy supplies as the two countries rush to catch up with Europe, the United States and Japan.

Now India is joining China in a stepped-up contest for energy, as both economies have boomed while their domestic oil production has sagged. China is now the world's second-largest energy consumer, trailing only the United States.

India has moved into fourth place, behind Russia, after overtaking Japan in 2001.