The China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) said yesterday
that it has discovered an oilfield with a reserve of 1 billion tons
off the beaches of the Bohai Sea, which is one of the most
significant breakthroughs in oil exploration in the past 40
years.
The Jidong Nanbao Oilfield, in the Caofeidian Port of Tangshan
in north China's Hebei Province, is of high quality and
efficiency, CNPC said.
Jia Chengzao, an academic and oil geologist with the Chinese
Academy of Sciences, projected that new discoveries will be made in
the area around the Bohai Sea following the Jidong Nanbao Oilfield,
which will lead to a rapid growth of CNPC's oil production in the
future.
China is one of the world's major oil producers, with a total
output of 183.68 million tons last year, according to the National
Bureau of Statistics.
In another development, a senior official said yesterday that
China would seek to satisfy its energy needs using domestic
resources.
Addressing the 2nd Asian Ministerial Energy Roundtable
Conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Chen Deming, vice director of
the National Development and Reform Commission, said yesterday that
China has a huge potential to exploit its abundant domestic energy
resources.
"China is not only a major energy consumer, but also a giant
energy producer," said Chen, who is head of the Chinese
delegation.
He said the country has abundant coal reserves and bright
prospects to develop hydroelectricity, wind power, solar energy and
bioenergy.
It also has the potential to increase its oil production and its
exploration for natural gas, he added.
Chen dismissed claims that the country had been a major factor
in the increasing global oil price, although it did need to import
a certain amount of oil and natural gas to supplement its energy
supplies.
The unstable regional situation, fund speculation and natural
disasters are the main factors behind the abnormal rise of the oil
price, he explained.
(China Daily May 4, 2007)