China says Bohai Bay Basin may hold 20.5b tons of oil

BEIJING : Exploration teams believe the Bohai Bay Basin in northern China may hold 20.5 billion tons of oil reserves, enough to sustain the country’s energy needs for a “considerable” time, state press said Friday.

So far, nine billion tons have been proven with the remaining 11.5 billion still needing to be further explored, the China Daily reported.

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It currently relies on imports to meet more than one-third of its crude oil demand with the International Energy Agency (IEA) forecasting that China’s total oil consumption was expected to reach 308 million tons this year.

According to Jin, there are plenty of potential domestic reserves still to be found, identifying the East China Sea, South China Sea and Yellow Sea as containing rich resources.

He also said China’s western inland areas had potential with the Tarim Basin of northwest Xinjiang region possibly holding more than 20 billion tons of oil.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_asiapacific_business/view/123853/1/.html