No wonder China is buying all the coal it could get its hands on. According to BP's Statistical Review of World Energy 2011, China is now the world's largest consumer of energy.

The report showed that China, in 2010, used up 20.3% of the world's energy, overtaking the US at 19.0% and the EU at 14.4%.

Coal remains China's main energy source, with 70% used for primary consumption in 2010. While it has the third-largest global reserves of the raw commodity, domestic supplies have not been able to keep up with the escalating demand, which represents 48% of the global coal consumption.

The country was a net exporter of coal until 2007, but it is forecast to surpass Japan in 2011 as the world's largest shipper.

Meanwhile oil is relatively a small commodity in China. The country consumed only 18% of energy consumption, compared to 37% in the US.