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Energy investment to reach US$2.17 trillion by 2020

BEIJING - China's investment in energy by 2020 will reach 18 trillion yuan (US$2.17 trillion), including 10 trillion yuan in energy industry and eight trillion yuan in buying energy from abroad, said Xu Ding, director of the energy department of the State Development and Reform Commission on Tuesday.

According to the Medium and Long-term Plan for Energy Saving unveiled by the commission on November 25, China's energy consumption still concentrates on coal, while the proportion of high-quality energy increases and oil security cannot be neglected.

China's consumption of primary energy was equal to 1.514 billion tons of standard coal in 2002, an increase of 527 million tons or 53% as compared with that in 1990, averaging an annual growth rate of 3.6%.

Of the total consumption, coal accounted for 66.3%, oil 23.5%, natural gas 2.6%, and hydraulic power and nuclear power 7.6%. The country's dependence on oil imports has been rising year by year since it became a net importer in 1993. Its net import of oil reached 81.3 million tons in 2002, making up 32.8% of the total consumption.

China's coal output amounted to 1.667 billion tons last year and is estimated to reach 1.8 billion tons this year.

By 2020, China will be short of 170 billion tons of coal.

The government would allocate 40 billion yuan to meet the shortfall, said director Xu.

In addition, China's oil reserve will be invested and administered by the state and built by three big oil companies. This year, its import of crude oil is likely to top 120 million tons, which means an additional US$10 billion of spending.

(Asia Pulse/XIC)

Dec 1, 2004

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