ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the domestic variables and represent potential obstacles to China's oil development. In addition to previously described geologic uncertainties, descriptions of China's production potential reflect inherent observer biases. Possible source bias is complicated by specific questions of completeness and veracity in China's case. In short, information on China's petroleum industry is often incomplete and subject to a variety of political and systemic distortions. The principal remaining bottleneck is the large investment in water storage and control facilities necessary, particularly on the North China Plain, to obtain increased yields from greater applications of chemical fertilizer. A related difficulty will be China's probable inability to use sophisticated material imports as development prototypes for domestic producers. A final unknown in China's oil development equation is the People's Republic of China's domestic political future, with its immediate focus being the succession question.
