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| A foreign oil tanker unloads at an oil terminal at a port in Ningbo, Zhejiang province. A researcher said that China, the second-largest economy in the world, will have to depend more on crude oil imports to fuel its economic development in the coming years. Zhang Heping / For China Daily |
Africa, South America, Caspian Sea to become larger sources of crude
China will import about 60 percent of the 500 million metric tons of oil it uses next year, government officials said on Thursday.
"The country's use of crude oil will continue to increase in the coming years but at a modest pace," said Gao Shixian, assistant director-general of the energy research institute of the National Development and Reform Commission.
This year, China is expected to import about 280 million tons of crude oil, or 57 percent of all of the oil it uses, according to an industrial report from China National Petroleum Corp's Economic and Technology Research Institute.
Since China became a net importer of crude oil in 1993, it has gone from importing 6 percent of the oil it consumes to more than 50 percent in 2009.
"The relationship between China and the world in the oil industry will become even deeper," said Zhong Shan, vice-minister of commerce, during the first China International Oil and Gas Trade Conference, held in Shanghai on Thursday.
China is calling for greater cooperation with foreign companies that are engaged in oil and gas exploration.
He added that emerging economies' increasing demand for crude oil, including China's, has helped bring stability to the global crude market.
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