China To Increase Oil Pruduction

China is expected to produce 180 million tons of crude oil in 2005, becoming the fifth largest crude oil producer, a senior government official said here Tuesday, Xinhua agency reported.

Last year, China produced 175 million tons of crude oil and imported 117 million tons, said Zhang Guobao, deputy director of the State Development and Reform Commission, at a press conference of the State Council Information Office.

China's oil import accounted for 6.31 percent of the world total, 23 percent of that of the United States and 56 percent of that of Japan, he said.

According to the official, China's energy production can feed 94 percent of its demand, while import is resorted to for the remaining 6 percent.

This means China's energy self-sufficiency rate is over 20 percent higher than the average of countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, said Zhang.

China's per capita primary energy consumption is 1.08 tons of oil equivalent, 66 percent of the world average and 13.4 percent of the United States, Zhang said.

In 2004, China's primary energy production amounted to 1.845 billion tons of coal equivalent (TCE) and total energy consumption reached 1.97 billion TCE, which made the country the second largest energy producer and consumer in the world.

China also exported 80 million tons of coal in 2004, and its coking coal export accounted for 56 percent of the world trade.