Making Progress on China & Oil

The China Question, "How much oil Are they using, and how much is it affecting prices?" is a vexing one.  Andy Xie at Morgan Stanley has been adamant all the way up that Chinese oil demand has already dropped.  Meanwhile other's say that Chinese growth, and thirst continues unabated.  James Hamilton, recently featured in the Wall St. Journal begins to piece together some clues.  Read the article yourself as he brings together quotes from many different sources.  The upshot is that China must be fixing the price of oil and rationing, and that the absence of a "market price" makes statistics difficult to gauge.  This makes sense, after all one wonders how chinese companies, with their legendarily low margins could swallow a nearly 40% increase in oil prices ths year alone; not to mention the recent strengthening of the Yuan.