China, National Security, and Power

Recorded on July 25, 2025 and August 3, 2025

https://youtu.be/fxYq3F7Xntw

Episode 137 of the PetroNerds podcast is a heavy hitting energy dense China focussed special.

Trisha Curtis, CEO of PetroNerds and host of the PetroNerds podcast, sits down with Jason Isaac, CEO of the American Energy Institute to discuss China, energy and power generation, and energy security and national security.

This podcast was prompted by a question Trisha and Jason received when recording a livestream on the Big Beautiful Bill. Someone asked if they could talk more about the US energy industry in the context of national security and energy security and China’s rising power and military threat. In this Fliparoo podcast, Jason acts as the host and asks Trisha a series of questions that allow her to dive into the competition between the US and China and lay out the framework and importance of energy in this imperative head to head battle.

Before getting started, Trisha updates listeners on everything happening in the oil market and the economy with a fresh introduction covering the recent OPEC output increase, Russia’s provocative tweets, and the Fed.

Trisha and Jason then cover everything from the Chinese grid and power generation to the US grid and power generation, the use of power generation in manufacturing military equipment, Europe’s supposed increase in military spending, Shell’s pulling out of a sustainability group, Chevron’s purchase of Hess, and US shale productivity. Trisha specifically gets into US national security and the link to energy security, Chinese energy consumption, US power generation and consumption, Chinese power generation, Chinese oil demand, and how competing head to head with China means competing head to head with China on energy.

Two great takeaway quotes from Trisha Curtis: “Energy is everything in global competition” and “Shell is waking up to the reality of energy.”

Listen on Itunes