China's proven oil, gas deposits surge

BEIJING -- China's crude oil and natural gas reserves discovered within its mainland saw sharp rises last year, a natural resources official said on Wednesday.

Xu Dachun, vice director in charge of resources exploration with the Ministry of Land and Resources, said China found 1.52 billion tons of new crude deposits in 2012, up 13 percent year on year. Of them, 270 million tons can be exploited with current technologies.

China discovered 961.22 billion cubic meters of natural gas last year, up 33 percent year on year. The proven reserves also hit a record high, Xu said. Out of the newly found deposits, 500.8 billion can be exploited with current technologies, up 36 percent.

Along with increasing oil and gas discovery, the output of the two fuels rose in 2012. China produced 205 million tons of crude oil and 106.76 billion cubic meters of natural gas last year, up 1 and 5.4 percent year on year, respectively.

The output of coal-bed methane, an unconventional gas, stood at 2.57 billion cubic meters, up 24 percent year on year.