China has come up with a primary draft of the country's much-expected Energy Law in early March and an opinion-soliciting draft is expected to come forth in end-May, Xu Dingming, senior energy official with the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), was quoted as saying at an international forum on China's energy legislation held recently in Beijing by several Chinese government departments.

   A workshop comprising experts and officials from 15 relative government entities, which started the drafting work in early 2006, will strive to come up with a finalized version of the draft energy law and send it to the State Council, the country's cabinet, for review this yearend.

   Positioned as a basic law, which means the law will provide ultimate reference is related industry laws conflict with each other, the energy law will also get the endorsement of the National People's Congress before it takes effect.

   Sources say the law will also provide arrangements on the establishment of an energy ministry to govern the country's energy affairs as a whole, in a bid to change the status quo that the departmentalized government supervision trails far behind the country's increasingly important energy issues.