China to Create Strategy for Oil Alternatives
Date: 14-Feb-06
Country: CHINA
The recommendations, put forward by a central government working group, form part of an "oil alternative strategy", the official China Daily cited Wu Yin, an energy official with the National Development and Reform Commission, as saying.
The working group's recommendations would be incorporated into the country's next five-year plan, due to be approved by the legislature in March, the paper cited Wu as saying.
The report provided no specific targets, but it cited Zhang Guobao, vice-minister of the commission, the country's top economic planning body, as saying China would look primarily to nuclear, wind and solar power to trim its reliance on coal and oil.
However, the government would also further develop energy sources such as coal gas, biomass and ethanol, the paper said.
The report said the government would significantly widen the availability of ethanol as a fuel for vehicles. It is currently used in just five provinces.
Coal liquefaction would be another focus of efforts to diversify away from oil, the paper said, in an effort to make better use of the country's massive coal reserves.
It cited the China Oil News as saying that over the next five to 10 years the government planned to invest $15 billion in coal liquefaction plants capable of producing 16 million tonnes of oil products each year.
China has already set a target of obtaining 15 percent of its energy through renewable sources by 2020, up from around 7 percent currently.