The Rising Influence of Rising Affluence

[DewDiligence]

Interesting article about Shell getting into China shale gas. You wonder if these huge Chinese companies feel more comfortable dealing with other monster-sized companies.

An alternative interpretation is that only the super-majors can afford to incur the political risk that China will rip them off under some pretense of national security, potentially leading to a write-off of tens of billions of dollars.

If you followed the Rio Tinto “espionage” story reported on this board, you’ll understand what I’m driving at.