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Chinese Vice-Premier Lists Measures to Ensure Energy Security

Posted on: Wednesday, 28 December 2005, 09:00 CST

Text of report by official Chinese news agency Xinhua (New China News Agency)

Beijing, 27 December: Reporting to the 19th meeting of the 10th National People's Congress [NPC] Standing Committee on 27 December regarding China's current energy source situation and energy source security issues, State Council Vice-Premier Zeng Peiyan said that in preserving and ensuring energy source security at present and for a time to come, we must persist in the guideline of giving priority to conservation, basing our efforts on internal efforts, regarding coal as the basis, and promoting diversified development, and earnestly tackle the following tasks:

- Comprehensively promote energy source conservation. This is an urgent task for easing the pressure on energy source supply. The goal is to reduce per-unit GDP energy source consumption in 2010 by about 20 per cent from the figure at the end of the 10th Five-year Plan. We must promote energy source conservation from the following aspects: Actively readjust and optimize the industrial structure; vigorously develop the work of conserving energy and reducing consumption; forcibly knock out backward production forces that have high consumption and low returns; and extensively unfold an energy conservation drive among the whole people.

- Make efforts to increase domestic energy source supply. This is the basis of ensuring energy source security. We must regard optimizing the energy source structure as the key task in ensuring energy source supply. We must promote high-efficiency and clean exploitation and use of coal resources, readjust and optimize the electric power structure, make efforts to increase oil and natural gas supply capacity, speed up the development of new and renewable energy sources, strengthen the building of oil reserves and intensify prospecting for energy source resources.

- Tangibly strengthen energy source production safety. At present we should mainly adopt the following measures to put a stop to the frequent major accidents in coalmines and so on: First, intensify checks and correction of hidden dangers for coalmine accidents and the supervision and management of mines where production has been suspended for rectification; second, resolutely close down coalmines that still lack production safety conditions after rectification; third, regulate the integration of coalmine resources; fourth, strictly manage coalmine construction projects; fifth, get a good grasp of concentrated treatment of gas problems; sixth, intensify law enforcement; and seventh, ensure strict accountability for responsibility. In strengthening production safety work in the energy source field, it is also necessary to persist in curing both the symptoms and the cause; focusing on putting laws and regulations on a sound basis, reforming structures and systems, perfecting the economic policies, increasing safety input, and strictly managing responsibility, we should establish a lastingly effective mechanism for getting at the root of the problem from the source and in policy, to ensure production safety in coalmines, power stations, and oil and gas fields, ensure the safe operation of power grids and oil and gas pipelines and grids, and be on guard against safety accidents of all kinds.

- Continually enhance the level of energy source technology. We crucially depend on technology to resolve problems in energy source prospecting and exploitation, production and construction, and environmental protection, and ensure safe energy source supply. We must strengthen frontline energy source technology research and development, promote the development and application of advanced and appropriate energy source technology and enhance our ability to develop major energy source technological equipment.

- Further expand international energy source cooperation. In enhancing the degree of ensuring energy source security, we must take full advantage of China's market and economic strong points, actively take part in world development and cooperation in oil, natural gas and coal resources, strengthen dialogue and cooperation with international organizations and multinational companies, do a good job in external propaganda regarding China's energy source strategy and policy, and preserve China's energy source security amid the pattern of opening up to the world.

- Speed up reforms of the energy source setup. The main tasks are: Rely on market mechanism and government impetus to speed up the formation of large coal enterprise consortia, so as to optimize the organizational structure of coal enterprises. Deepen reforms of the electric power setup and further implement the reform schemes. Aiming to enhancing international competitiveness and moving towards market reform, deepen the reforms of the oil and gas sector. Actively and steadily promote energy source price reforms, gradually form a price formation mechanism that can reflect the extent of resource shortage, the market supply-demand relationship, and the cost of treating pollution, and establish a comparative price relationship for energy sources. Strengthen management of energy sources, and put the energy source development supervision and management system on a sound basis. At present, we need to adopt effective measures and further do a good job in all work for rectifying and regulating order in the mineral resources development market, promote the restructuring of energy source sectors with excess production capacity, and safeguard normal order in energy source production, circulation and construction. Through drawing up sector plans, industrial policies and technical standards, applying economic levers such as price, tax, finance and investment, and strengthening information dissemination and guidance, we should encourage the restructuring and optimization of energy sources, encourage energy conservation and consumption reduction and environmental protection, encourage the development and use of new, renewable, clean, and substitute energy sources, and spur the sustained development of the energy source industry.

- Vigorously strengthen the building of the energy source legal system. We should adapt to the requirements of reform and opening up and of economic and social development, and actively cooperate with the National People's Congress and its Standing Committee in strengthening energy source legislative work and promote regularization and legal system formation in energy source exploitation, use and management.

Source: BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific

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