China will try not to raise oil imports in 2006

MOSCOW, Mar 13 (Reuters) China will try not to increase oil imports this year over 2005 levels, a senior official said on Monday.

''We will slow down growth of energy consumption per unit of GDP by 20 per cent by 2010... In 2006, China will work hard not to import more oil,'' Zhang Guobao, vice-minister of the powerful National Development and Reform Commission, told a conference in Moscow.

The plan to curb energy consumption growth is a central plank of China's latest five-year plan as oil consumption rose to 6.6 million bpd last year, making China the world's second largest oil user in the world - far behind the United States with 20.8 million, but ahead of Japan's 5.4 million bpd.

Guobao said he expected domestic energy production to stay flat at around 180-200 million tonnes a year (3.6-4.0 million bpd) in the years to come, which will make it even more important to impose curbs on booming energy consumption.

''There is always two sides to a coin,'' he said, adding that consumers should look carefully at how efficient is their energy use rather than just calling on producers to increase supplies.

''We (in China) will readjust our industrial structure... We will manage to slow down the energy consumption growth,'' he said.

REUTERS SD HT1739