By Xinhua
Beijing : China Thursday said its crude output in 2007 reached 186.7 million tonnes, up 1.6 percent from the previous year and consumption touched record high, boosted by the robust growth in the economy.
The sizzling economy, soaring investment in heavy industrial sector and cars crowding urban streets have driven the country’s demand for oil, a top official of the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Association, the industrial association of the country’s petroleum and petrochemical sector, said.
The output makes a record high although the growth was slow, said Deng Xianrong, a research member of the Development Research Center of the State Council.
China’s net import of crude oil was 159.28 million tons last year, up 14.7 percent. The apparent consumption of crude oil, representing the sum of net imports plus output, rose 7.3 percent to 346 million tons in 2007.
China’s GDP grew 11. 4 percent in 2007, the highest in the past 13 years with the industrial added value rising 18.5 percent from a year ago.
Oil output in China’s offshore oil fields and those onshore in the western regions compensate for output decrease in old oil fields such as Daqing oil field in the northeastern region, said Deng Yusong.
Deng says, the oil output is still within the “normal range”, but lag far behind rising domestic demand.
China exported 4.64 million tons of gasoline in 2007, up 32.4 percent. Surplus refinery capacity of gasoline and gap between domestic and overseas prices were major factors contributing to rising export volume, said Tian Chunrong, an engineer with Sinopec Corp.
Deng Yusong predicts that China’s oil consumption will continue to grow in 2008 with domestic crude oil output remaining within the growth range of one to two percent.