Milan (AsiaNews) In 2004 China's crude oil imports increased 35 per cent over the previous year reaching 120 million metric tonnes. The high jump was due to dropping domestic output and rising domestic demand.
According to Rachel Tsang, an oil and gas analyst with Daiwa Securities SMBC in Hong Kong, oil imports accounted for as much as 41 percent of consumption in 2004.
Consumption last year may have risen to 300 million tonnes from 250 million tonnes in 2003, China's State Information Centre reported in November 2004.
With its economy growing by 9.5 per cent in the first nine months of 2004, demand for fuels, plastic and chemicals also rose.
Domestic output however rose only by 2.3 per cent in 2004, according to Zhang Xiaoqiang, deputy chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission.
This year, oil imports are expected to rise by another 18 per cent and will meet 43 per cent of total energy consumption.
The gap between demand and local supply has been growing in the last few years. Until ten years ago, China was a net oil exporter, but for several years now it has been the world's second-biggest oil consumer after the United States. Imports have therefore become an imperative.
Despite high investment in domestic oil prospecting and new drilling, one third of all Chinese output comes from the big Daqing oilfield in Heilongjiang province, in the country's north-eastern region. However, its output is already declining and to extend its life production was reduced by 7 per cent last year.