China is expected to import 50 percent of its oil requirements to meet the growing demand by 2010, according to the 2006 China Energy Development Report published by the Social Sciences Academic Press on Monday in Beijing. China is the world's second largest consumer of energy after the United States.
However, thanks to the Chinese government's energy-saving efforts, the nation's oil import dependency in 2005 dropped by 2.2 percentage points to 42.9 percent. Last year China's net oil imports exceeded 136 million tons. This is 5.3 percent lower and 7.56 million tons less than 2004.
The report suggests a set of measures be adopted to guarantee oil security including reducing dependency on imports, actively participating in competition in the global market and increasing international cooperation in the oil industry.
As China's crude oil import mainly comes from the Middle East, the report says that apart from the Strait of Malacca, an oil transportation passage in Southern Thailand would be conducive to the security of oil supplies. It also suggests that an energy supply community in Northeast Asia would better fit into the world polarization pattern.
According to the report, a sound oil reserve system is the guarantee for energy supply security and China should immediately establish national and regional oil reserve systems and at the same time explore oil substitutes such as a coal water mixture.
The report warns that China is facing an ever-widening gap between supply and consumption. The problem China faces in energy use is quickly shifting from how to find energy to where to find energy.
(China.org.cn by Yuan Fang, July 20, 2006)
