The Asian giants, China and India are searching for oil reserves overseas to ensure energy security for themselves. However, China is very aggressive and is many years ahead of India in this race for energy security.

Oil has become the most crucial product for emerging economies in the Asian region. A strong economic growth in last decade has brought rapid changes in India and China. These countries are growing at the rate of 8-10% and 6-7% respectively every year. In turn, industrialization and consumption have increased to considerable levels. Specifically, the growth in the automobile sector has forced them to import more oil. Indian oil imports increased by 11% and China's by 33% in 2004.

Till 1993, China was a net exporter of oil, after that it became a net oil importer and has been importing 30% of its oil. India, on the other hand, imports 70% of the total oil it consumes. Estimates by the Ministry of Petroleum show that India's dependency on imported oil will shoot up to 85% by 2025. Michael J Economides, Professor of Chemical Engineering, University of Houston says, "China will be a hot bed of energy work over the next 20 years and the volume of incremental new activities will far surpass that of any other nation including the United States." Today, China is the second largest oil consuming nation in the world, using 6 million barrels per day, greatly surpassing Japan since 2003. China has experienced an explosive growth in oil consumption, over 120%, last decade; this increase in oil consumption is met by imports.

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