China imported 69.41 million tons of crude oil in 2002, an increase of 15 percent year-on-year, according to the latest statistics released by the General Administration of Customs (GAC).

GAC figures show that the value of the imported crude oil hit 12.76 billion yuan (US$1.54 billion), up 9.4 percent.

Imports of refined oil were worth 3.8 billion yuan (US$458.9 million), up 1.4 percent, but their volume decreased 4.9 percent to 20.34 million tons.

The fast growing Chinese economy and lagging domestic oil supplies forged the huge need for crude oil imports, which accounted for 28 percent of China's crude oil demand in 2001.

China has 23 billion tons of crude oil reserves and annual output reached 167 million tons in 2002.

Experts predicted China's total oil consumption would surpass 300 million tons in 2010 and the nation's energy demand would equal 2 billion tons of standard oil in 2020.

Statistics from the Ministry of Land and Resources show, for the past ten years, China's crude oil consumption has kept growing at an average rate of 5.77 percent, while the growth rate of domestic oil supplies was only 1.67 percent.

China became a net oil importer in 1993. Imports of crude oil were respectively 70 million tons and 60 million tons in 2000 and 2001.

(Xinhua News Agency February 11, 2003)