China discovers more oil, gas deposits

BEIJING - China continued to be increasingly successful at discovering crude oil and natural gas reserves last year, new data from the Ministry of Land and Resources indicated on Thursday.

The country discovered nearly 1.06 billion tons of new crude oil deposits in 2014, up from 1.1 billion tons the previous year, marking a stable increase and the eighth consecutive year in which the amount discovered surpassed 1 billion tonnes.

More than 1.1 trillion cubic meters of new natural gas reserves were also discovered in 2014, a record high.

Of the new discoveries, 187 million tons of oil and 474.9 billion cubic meters of natural gas can be exploited with current technology, according to the ministry.

New shale gas reserves discovered amount to 106.75 billion cubic meters, with 26.69 billion exploitable.

This is the first time that proven reserves of shale gas have been publicized since the Chinese government approved the listing of shale gas as an independent mineral resource in 2011.

Discoveries of coal-bed methane, an unconventional gas, amounted to 60.2 billion cubic meters, up 155.3 percent year on year.

China is one of the world's largest energy consumers, and depends largely on imports to meet demand, especially for oil and natural gas.