China's primary energy consumption rose by 8.4 percent in 2006,
6 percent more than the growth rate of global consumption,
according to a report released by BP on Monday.
The world consumption rose 2.4 percent last year, slowing from a
rise of 3.2 percent in 2005, according to the BP Statistical
Review of World Energy.
China consumed 1.7 billion tons of oil equivalent in 2006,
accounting for 15.6 percent of the world's primary energy
consumption, the report showed.
More energy was consumed by developing countries in 2006 while
the OECD countries slowed down in energy consumption growth, said
Christof Ruhl, an economist with the BP group.
The rise of global carbon emission is higher than the growth of
global energy consumption in 2006, due to the sharp rise in coal
consumption in the world, he said.
China consumed 350 million tons of crude oil, up 6.7 percent
from 2005, while its oil output rose by 1.6 percent to 183.7
million tons in 2006. China's dependency on oil imports stood at 47
percent in 2006.
According to statistics of BP, the spot Brent price for crude
oil averaged US$65.14 per barrel in 2006, nearly 20 percent higher
than the 2005 average with price peak at above US$78 per barrel
last August.
The global oil consumption grew by 0.7 percent in 2006, the
weakest growth since 2001 and only a half of the 10-year average,
owing to the soaring oil price.
World total oil output reached 3.9 billion tons, up 0.4 percent
from a year ago, according to the report.
China is also catching up in gas production and consumption. It
consumed 55.6 billion cubic meters of natural gas, up 21.6 percent
from 2005, and produced 58.6 billion cubic meters, a year-on-year
growth of 17.2 percent.
The global natural gas consumption grew by 2.5 percent and gas
output rose by 3 percent in 2006.
The world's coal consumption rose 4.5 percent in 2006, while
China saw a rise of 8.7 percent in coal consumption in the same
year to account for more than 70 percent of the global coal
consumption increase.
China's coal consumption was 1.19 billion tons of oil equivalent
in 2006, and remained self-sufficient in coal consumption with coal
output reaching 1.21 billion tons of oil equivalent.
China's nuclear power output rose by 2.3 percent in 2006, and
hydropower output by 5 percent, both higher than the world average
growth of 1.4 percent and 3.2 percent respectively.
According to Xinhua's calculation based on BP statistics,
China's coal consumption accounted for 70 percent of its total
primary energy consumption, with oil consumption accounting for
20.6 percent, natural gas use 2.9 percent, hydropower use 5.6
percent and nuclear power use 0.7 percent.
(Xinhua News Agency July 3, 2007)