China to complete 4 oil reserve bases by 2008
(chinanews)
Updated: 2006-06-01 07:20
Xiong Guangkai, director of the Institute for International Strategic Studies
of China, proclaimed in his article that China had made a plan for the
first-phase construction of four strategic oil reserve bases in 2004.
Xiong Guangkai salutes the
audience during a speech at the China Science and Humanity Forum in
2003. The general incisively analyzes complicated international relations
issues. [Yang Shen] |
The oil reserve base in
Zhenghai region of Zhejiang Province has been basically completed at present and
will be put into operation by the end of this year. The other three are
scheduled to be finished in the next two years.
Xiong pointed out that China is both the second largest energy producer and
consumer in the world. Its total energy output is high but the per capita
quantity is comparatively small, not even half of the world's average.
China's energy consumption kept increasing along with the economic growth in
recent years, and the consumption is quite strong in a period of accelerating
industrialization and urbanization.
As the economic scale expands, energy consumption will maintain a rapid
growth, which will render great pressure on energy supply. Hence the demand and
supply conflict will exist for a long time.
The Chinese government is taking a series of policies and measures to solve
the energy security problem, a strategic issue that will affect the national
security. It has elevated energy saving and reduction of energy consumption to
the level of basic national policy and given them top priority in China's energy
strategy.
The 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-2010) put forward some energy-related
objectives, such as to build a "resource-economic society" and reduce 20% of
energy consumption in per unit GDP during this period.
China will carry out the strategy of oil supply diversification and exert
greater efforts in substitute energy source development.
In order to realize diversified oil supply, China will raise the quotas of
oil imports from Russia, Central Asia, Africa, Latin-America and other regions
in addition to maintaining oil imports from the Middle East.
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