Crude imports on the rise
21 July 2006
Crude oil imports rose 17.6% to 492 million barrels in the first six months of the year, the government said Thursday. This comes amid growing concern that runaway Chinese demand is pushing up global prices despite Beijing's efforts to rein in consumption by raising the price of gasoline and other commercial oil products. However, China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) Chairman Fu Chengyu said the country's oil imports have �stabilized� and may decline within three years, Bloomberg reported. "The policies on energy saving will take three to five years to implement,'' Fu said. "I feel confident that energy imports won't be as much as we thought before.'' According to the International Energy Agency, China's oil imports will rise to 4.4 million barrels a day in 2009 from the current level of 3.3 million.
