“If oil prices keep going up, it is simply not in any country’s best interest to keep subsidizing these prices indefinitely,” says Peter Gastreich, a UBS oil and gas analyst, in the Financial Times. More from that story:

The recent surge in the price of oil has been particularly painful for Asian oil importers such as India, where imports cover 73 per cent of petroleum needs. But it has also deprived state energy companies of additional revenues to make bigger investments in exploration, as well as downstream infrastructure.

Analysts warned that planned cuts in subsidies and controls would have to be followed by more substantial energy market deregulation.

The Chinese government said that stock market rumors of an imminent increase in domestic fuel prices were “groundless”. However, analysts forecast that Beijing would eventually endorse subsidy cuts.

“The story of oil is no longer a U.S.-centric story,” says Chris Mayer in The Daily Reckoning. “China and India are only beginning to consume oil at any meaningful level. Right now, they are consuming oil at a rate the U.S. did in the early years of the 20th century.

“But look, we don’t need China to start guzzling oil like we do. Even if it moves half the distance between it and Hong Kong, that’s a lot of extra demand. The way I look at it is this: What’s more likely, China stays at 1910 oil usage or moves somewhere closer to, say, 1950s U.S. oil usage? I think the latter.”

Jason Simpkins in Money Morning says: “Every investor must have a China strategy. And that also holds true for the energy sector.

Read on here for a long-term play on both China and on oil prices. Jason reckons investors with the patience to let such a strategy play out may find this a profitable pick.

Google, Chevron and Goldman are all betting that this prediction is correct. This from Bloomberg:

Unlike photovoltaic solar panels that convert sunlight to electricity, solar thermal focuses sunrays with mirrors to heat oil in glass pipes to about 700 degrees Fahrenheit (370 degrees Celsius). The oil turns water to steam, which spins an electric turbine. A solar thermal unit that begins operation in 2010 will produce power at 14.2 cents a kilowatt hour, almost triple the 4.8 cents for a plant using pulverized coal, the Energy Information Administration estimates.

Costs for solar thermal may fall as low as 3.5 cents a kilowatt hour by 2020, according to a report commissioned by the U.S. Energy Department. Meanwhile, coal expenses may rise. Congress is considering limits on carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions. The purchase of pollution permits may be required under a measure the Senate will begin debating next month.

Chevron, Goldman Sachs, FPL, PG&E and other companies have filed more than 50 applications with the Bureau of Land Management to lease government-owned desert property for solar power systems … Google’s philanthropic division put $10 million into eSolar, a start-up in Pasadena, California. Dan Reicher, a former Energy Department official who manages the unit’s climate and energy initiatives, said there will be more such investments.

The PowerShares Clean Energy ETF (PBW) has more than $1.5bn in assets and is one of the most popular ways to invest in solar, biomass, wind, and geothermal energy, says Brian Hunt in Daily Wealth.

“Common sense tells us when the holy trinity of fossil fuels – crude oil, coal, and natural gas – rise in price, companies that provide cleaner substitutes should also rise in price.

“PBW’s only been around for three years […] But with oil approaching $130 a barrel and clean energy stocks out of favor, expect a rally from the ‘treehugger-approved’ companies of the world.”

“Solar panels won’t be accepted en masse unless the economics of it makes sense,” says Charles Delvalle in Investor’s Daily Edge. “Sure, adoption is growing. But it won’t be mainstream until everyone can afford it. The same goes for wind power.

“With so many solutions not making any economic sense, why is adoption skyrocketing? You can thank the government and their incentives. States are ramping up incentives for clean energy production (like California’s $3.3 billion solar initiative). If it weren’t for government incentives adoption would drastically drop.

“When you combine these government incentives with the whole culture change that’s going on, you have a recipe for amazing growth.”