A thirsty dragon

China has, to date, transformed itself into the second largest economy in the world. Beijing’s need for energy, especially crude oil, has been growing year after year. Securing and protecting adequate amounts of petroleum imports thus presents a gargantuan geostrategic challenge. How will China appease its hunger for energy to keep its economy growing into the future? The present study develops two distinct scenarios. First, a pessimistic scenario foresees China in dangerous confrontations with the U. S., Japan, the EU and India. On the other hand, the author also outlines a second, more optimistic scenario based on a liberal integrationist perspective that could offer huge potential for multilateral energy security cooperation. Amar Causevic recommends an integration of China into multilateral energy organizations, notably the OECD´s IEA, and presents suggestions for how this could be achieved.