The debt crisis in Europe as well as the struggling economy in the United States may cloud the prospect of China’s demand for copper, which is usually regarded as an important indicator for global copper market prices, a recent Reuters poll shows.

Chinese energy companies are looking to grab a stake in western Canada’s abundant oil sands to support China’s growing and developing appetite for oil. Despite an increasing awareness of environmental issues and movement towards cleaner forms of energy, reality still dictates that the majority of the world runs on oil.