Workers are seen at the construction site of a station of the China-Russia east route natural gas pipeline project in Heihe, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, Aug. 20, 2019. (Xinhua/Wang Jianwei)

The head of China's top energy authority vowed to further enhance the nation's energy security by maintaining annual domestic oil output at over 200 million tons and deepening energy cooperation with Russia, as well as increasing the utility rate for multiple clean energies to reduce carbon emissions.

Zhang Jianhua, head of China's National Energy Administration (NEA), said during a press conference held by the State Council Information Office on Wednesday that the NEA will further safeguard China's energy supply by maintaining the domestic crude oil output at over 200 million tons each year, and keep a natural gas self-sufficiency rate of no less than 50 percent.

"The NEA will strengthen the role of coal power as a major support in China's energy structure, and the replacement role of various clean energies, in order to achieve the goal of carbon emissions reduction," said Zhang.

China has revealed a master plan to reduce the nation's carbon dioxide emissions, vowing to achieve the goal of reaching a carbon peak before 2030 and realizing carbon neutrality before 2060.

Zhang vowed to increase the clean energy utility rate by one percentage point each year in the next five years, and to lift the proportion of non-fossil energy power in newly generated power to 80 percent as of 2035.

When asked about whether China will increase energy imports from Russia, Zhang said that energy sector cooperation between China and Russia is the cornerstone of bilateral comprehensive cooperation. "China will build a closer cooperation partnership in the energy sector with Russia, support companies in both countries to make cooperation agreements and secure the stability of energy products related to the industrial chain and supply chain," he said.

The China-Russia trade volume reached $33.69 billion in the two months of 2023, up 25.9 percent year-on-year, according to data from China's General Administration of Customs.

Zhang said that at present, energy companies from China and Russia are having talks about the new China-Mongolia-Russia natural gas pipeline program. China will keep supporting related companies to reach positive results, according to the Joint Statement of the People's Republic of China and the Russian Federation on Deepening the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership of Coordination for the New Era signed by leaders of the two countries in March.

In the first two months of 2023, China's crude oil output stood at 34.17 million tons, up 1.8 percent year-on-year. Crude oil imports reached 84.06 million tons, down 1.3 percent year-on-year.

Global Times