China will strengthen its exploration of key resources like oil, gas and coal to support its growth, a senior official said yesterday.

Vice-Premier Zeng Peiyan said the country's exploration work of mineral resources achieved new progress with a number of large oil and gas fields found in recent years.

He was addressing the 25th session of National People's Congress's 10th Standing Committee yesterday, at which a work report on the subject was tabled for discussion.

Eight large-scale oil fields with proven reserves of more than 100 million tons have been discovered, in Tahe, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, and Penglai in East China's Shandong Province.

Five gasfields, with an estimated reserve of more than 100 billion cubic metres, were discovered in Puguang in the Sichuan Province, and Sulige in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

A series of large and medium size non-ferrous mines have been found in west China.

And the net increase of the newly discovered coal reserves was 18.8 billion tons in the 10th Five-Year Plan period (2000-05).

Zeng said the country has increased construction speed of energy bases. Oil and gas development bases have been set up in Tarim, Xinjiang and Bohai Bay, and coal bases in Shanxi, Inner Mongolia and Shaanxi Provinces.

The country's output of coal and iron ore has doubled compared with five years ago.

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