2.1.2.1 State of Production

(1) Coal

Coal production has long occupied a leading position in China's energy production. In 1949, the output of raw coal was 32.43 million tons, making up 96.3% of the domestic energy production; in 1957, the output stepped up to 130 million tons, making up 94.9%; in 1989, the output surpassed one billion tons (1.054 billion tons), making up 74.0%, which exceeded that of the former USSR and USA, ranking first in the world. In the 1990s, the production of coal continued to go up: in the year 1997, it reached 1,325 million tons (which was a bit lower than the 1,374 million tons in 1996 as a result of artificial adjustment), remaining in a leading position in the world. The gross industrial output value of the coal sector in that year amounted to 157.735 billion yuan in conversion of the current price.     

According to statistics, in the year 1997 there were 1994 major State-owned mines and local State-owned mines (111 and 1,883 respectively) and 58,000 township collectively-owned and self-employed mines or mining spots (among which 22,856 were township-run mines). In 1980, the coal outputs for the above three categories accounted for 55.5%, 26.2% and 18.3% respectively of the total, and in 1995, the figures were 37.3%, 16.5% and 46.2% respectively, showing a remarkable change of the proportion. However, through rectification of the production order and strictly running the mines according to law in recent years, the proportion of the last category has reduced to 43.1%.

(2) Oil and gas

In the past 40-odd years, the exploration, exploitation and development of oil and natural gas were unbalanced: the former was rapidly expanding and the latter was relatively sluggish.     

Oil production: In the 1960s and 1970s, with the discovery and development of the Daqing Oilfield and a number of oilfields in eastern China, the production of crude oil increased at an annual rate of 14£¥~39% since the annual production reached 3.73 million tons in 1959. In 1978, the output exceeded a hundred million tons (104 million tons), entering the rank of the world's major petroleum-producing countries. Since the 1980s, the production was stably increasing, but with reduced increments varying from 0.44% to 2.25%. In 1997, the output reached 160.74 million tons, ranking fifth in the world. The proportion of petroleum in the domestic energy production rapidly increased from 4.8% in 1962 to 24.7% in 1976 and 23.7% in 1978, and then reduced year after year to 17.4% in 1997.     

Natural gas production: The development of natural gas had been relatively slow for quite a long period of time. The annual output was 1.04 billion cubic meters in 1960. It took 16 years for it to reach 10.1 billion cubic meters in 1976, and 20 years to reach 20.13 billion cubic meters in 1996. In 1997, the production went up to 22.265 billion cubic meters, ranking 18th in the world. Its proportion in the domestic energy production increased progressively from 1.2% in 1970 to 3.0% in 1980, and then reduced year after year to around 2.0%.     

To the end of 1997, there were 31 major enterprises engaged in oil and gas production. Among them, 21 were subordinated to the CNPC (China National Petroleum Corporation), 3 to the CNOOC (China National Offshore Oil Corporation) and 6 to the CNSPC (China National Star Petroleum Corporation). The China Oil Co. Ltd. (Taiwan, China) mainly operated in Taiwan and its offshore areas. In March 1998, it was decided by the State Council to form the China Petroleum Group and SINOPEC Group and restructure the enterprises subordinated to them. As a result, 14 of the enterprises came under the jurisdiction of the former and 7 of the latter. Reform of the structural system is still going on.

(3) Uranium

China's uranium enterprises are all State-owned, and run and managed with the involvement of the State. There are presently 8 main enterprises engaged in uranium mining. In the early 1980s, China's nuclear power generation was at an initial phase, the demand for uranium was small, therefore the annual production of uranium was adjusted to a low level during 1985~1994. Later, along with the installment of new nuclear power stations and expansion of the old ones, the mining scale of uranium was expanded accordingly to meet the demand for uranium in the development of nuclear power. In the mining of uranium two methods are usually used: the opencut mining and underground mining, and the latter is predominating. The annual output of opencut mining once reached 30% of the total in the history.

(4) Geothermals

The development of geothermal resources is mainly run and managed by local governments in line with local conditions. According to statistics, among the 761 geothermal fields discovered, 434 have been utilized or partly utilized, accounting for 57% of the total. The geothermal water utilized amounts to a total of 943,967 m3/d, with 1,762.56 MW of heat energy, equivalent to that generated by an annual consumption of 1,896,000 tons of standard coal. However, the present utilization of geothermal water is usually limited to depths shallower than 2,000 m.

2.1.2.2 Distribution of Production

(1) Coal

In 1949, when the People's Republic of China was founded, coal production was mainly distributed in Northeast China (38.7%), followed by North China (29.4%) and East China (13.5%). After exploration and construction in a few decades, by the year 1997 production of the major production regions, North China (36.7%), East China (14.6%), Southeast China (14.3%) and Central China (13.2%), all exceeded that of Northeast China (11.9%). A remarkable increase was seen in the production in the Northwest China. The distribution of coal production became gradually rationalized, but the major production regions were relatively concentrated and there were great differences in the output of the provinces (cities or regions). In 1997, the production of Shanxi Province ranked first in the country, accounting for 24.9% of the total output, whereas that of Hainan Province and the Tibet Autonomous Region was only 20,000 tons and 10,000 tons respectively. Provinces or regions with the annual raw coal production exceeding 50 million tons were Shanxi, Henan, Shandong, Inner Mongolia, Helongjiang, Hebei, Guizhou, Sichuan and Liaoning, adding up to 930.62 million tons, comprising 70.2% to the total. Beijing, Guangdong, Fujian, Qinghai, Zhejiang, Hainan and Tibet together produced 30.49 million tons, only 2.3% of the total.

At the end of 1997, 111 major State-owned mines, with a designed capacity of 534.88 million tons, produced 529.16 million tons of raw coal annually. Among them, 81 were distributed in North China, Northeast China, northern East China and eastern Northwest China, and most of them are of large and medium sizes. Locally run State-owned mines are distributed over 30 provinces (cities or regions). Among them, Shanxi Province owned the largest number of collective-run mines while Guizhou has the largest number of self-employed mines (or mining spots).

(2) Oil and gas

Petroleum production was distributed mainly in Northwest China (Shaanxi, Gansu and Xinjiang) in the 1950s. Since the 1960s~1970s, along with the discovery and development of a number of oilfields, the eastern regions (Northeast China, North China and northern East China) have become the main body of China's petroleum industry, and will continue to maintain the leading position for a long time to go. In 1997, the eastern regions produced 120.85 million tons of oil, accounting for 75.4% of the total, while the central and western regions made up 14.5% and 10.1% respectively. The oil yield of the two major basins in the eastern regions, Songliao (60.0121 million tons) and Bohai Bay (56.1039 million tons), comprised 72.4% of the total. Natural gas was dominantly produced in the central and western regions, of which the Sichuan basin has always been the leader. In 1997, the production of natural gas in the above regions was 11.215 billion cubic meters, accounting for 50.4% of the total; that in the eastern regions was 7.050 billion cubic meters, 31.7% of the total; and it was 4 billion cubic meters for the sea regions, comprising 17.9% of the total. The total gas production of the Sichuan basin (8.309 billion cubic meters) and the Yinggehai-Qiongdongnan basin (3.6 billion cubic meters) accounted for 53.48 % of the total production of the country.

Up to 1997, the enterprises with annual crude oil production exceeding 5 million tons included Daqing (56.0092 million tons), Shengli (28.0116 million tons), Liaohe (15.0408 million tons), eastern South China Sea (12.87 million tons) and Xinjiang (8.7017 million tons). Those with annual gas production exceeding 1 billion cubic meters included Sichuan (7.509 billion cubic meters), Daqing (2.340 billion cubic meters), western South China Sea (3.60 billion cubic meters), Liaohe (1.551 billion cubic meters), Shengli (1.002 billion cubic meters), Zhongyuan (1.157 billion cubic meters) and Xinjiang (1.240 billion cubic meters).

(3) Uranium

Along with the closing of some exhausted mines and adjustment on the technology and standards of uranium products to cater to the demand of nuclear power generation, the uranium production is now concentrated in a number of major enterprises including those in Fuzhou and Chongyi of Jiangxi, Renhua of Guangdong, Quzhou of Zhejiang, Hengyang of Hunan and the newly-built Yining of Xinjiang, Lantian of Shaanxi and Benxi of Liaoning. The Fuzhou uranium mine has a capacity of producing 300 tons of U per year, the Chongyi, Lantian and Benxi mines 100 tons of U each, whereas the Yining mine is building an annual capacity of 100 tons in addition to the former capacity of 100~150 tons. The mining and refining capacities of uranium in the whole country have come to a balance.

(4) Geothermals

China started extensive utilization of geothermal resources in the early 1970s, which has seen rapid development since the reform and opening up policy was adopted. At present, geothermal resources are developed and utilized in 28 provinces (cities or regions) of the country. In the Yanybajain geothermal field in Tibet, which produces the hottest geothermal water (130~170¡æ), 109,500 m3/d of hot water has been extracted, and a geothermal power plant with an installed capacity of 25.18MW has been built to provide electricity for Lhasa. Among the geothermal fields in use, 21 are used for heating, 126 for medical care, and 266 for bathing. Also, 200 aquafarms have been built in 47 geothermal fields, mineral water produced in 40 geothermal fields, geothermal greenhouses built in 77 fields, and 117 used for farmland irrigation.