China will see strong growth in oil production in the new century, with natural gas production entering its peak developmental stage, said a senior official in charge of China's energy development.

China produced more than 160 million tons of crude oil in 1999, making the country the world's fifth largest oil producer for 13 consecutive years, said Chen Geng, deputy-director of the State Petroleum and Chemical Administration.

Addressing a seminar on China's Petroleum Development Strategy in the 21st Century, the official said that China has very rich oil and gas resources, adding that by the end of last year, oil resources were 20.3 billion tons while gas resources were 2.2 trillion cu.m.

China has enormous potential for oil and gas development. A China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) spokesman said that China is set to develop a number of large oil and gas fields to increase its annual oil and gas output equivalent to 300 million tons by 2010. These oil and gas fields will be located in the Songliao Basin in the northeast, around the Bohai Sea, in the west and northwest.

Meanwhile, China will strengthen its cooperation with other countries in oil-gas development, so that it can obtain from abroad 50 million tons of oil and some 50 billion cu m of natural gas (equivalent to 50 million tons of oil).

In addition, China plans to develop an annual gas output of 100 billion cu m by the year 2020, equivalent to 100 million tons of crude oil.

Experts estimate that China's proven natural gas reserves will increase by an annual average of 120 billion cu m between 2001 and 2020, with gas accounting for 8 percent of China's energy consumption, as against the present 2 percent.

China has started a nationwide gas pipeline construction in a bid to speed up gas development and utilization.

Priority will be given to laying gas pipelines extending from major gas production bases of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia region, Sichuan province and the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, to developed areas in the north and northeastern parts of China, as well as to the Yangtze River and Zhujiang River deltas.

A senior Chinese oil official said that the increasing globalization of the world's economy and fast development of science and technology will see oil markets around the world expanding and competition becoming acute. China will work hard to tap its oil and gas resources.