China Has Only Tapped A Fraction Of Its Natural Resources: Official

SINO DAILY

The government is convinced China has rich untapped oil deposits, such as in Xinjiang province in its northwest region, but has yet to extract the resources largely because of geological difficulties and insufficient know-how and technology.

Beijing (AFP) Jul 04, 2005
China has vast untapped energy reserves but needs the expertise and investment to locate the new resources, state press said Monday even as China expand's its search for energy overseas.

Zhang Hongtao, deputy director of the China Geological Survey, an institute with the Ministry of Land and Resources, said thorough geological surveys have only been conducted over a small part of China's territory, the China Daily reported.

"Major findings are expected soon," Zhang was quoted as saying at an investment forum in China's northeast Shandong province.

"We are very hopeful China will overcome the energy bottleneck (it faces) by tapping its own mineral resources," he said.

"I believe China is still a nation with plenty of options. We have reason to be confident of finding new resources."

The comments come as China faces strong opposition in the United States over its state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corp.'s (CNOOC) aggressive 18.5 billion-dollar bid for US oil company Unocal.

China's rapid economic development has increased its dependency on oil, making the country a net importer and the world's second largest consumer after the United States.

China's oil imports last year jumped 35 percent as flagging domestic production failed to keep up with booming domestic demand.

If CNOOC succeeds in buying Unocal, China would gain access to technology to dig far deeper underground than it can now, a US lawmaker has said.

At the investment forum, Chinese officials appealed to China's Asian neighbors for regional "investment cooperation" in the energy field to "build an energy security framework," the China Daily said.

Major cooperation projects are likely to include the development of oil and gas resources, pipeline construction, fundraising for energy projects and technology exchanges, Zhou Dadi, director of the National Development and Reform Commission's energy research institute, said in the report.

All rights reserved. � 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.

DRAGON SPACE

China Prepares To Export First Satellite

Beijing (XNA) Jul 03, 2005
Work on the development, manufacturing and launching of China's first satellite for a foreign buyer is going on smoothly as scheduled, China's major space product supplier and service provider announced here Friday.

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2016 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement All images and articles appearing on Space Media Network have been edited or digitally altered in some way. Any requests to remove copyright material will be acted upon in a timely and appropriate manner. Any attempt to extort money from Space Media Network will be ignored and reported to Australian Law Enforcement Agencies as a potential case of financial fraud involving the use of a telephonic carriage device or postal service.