Industry observers forecast that in 2007, China's crude oil output will grow less than 2 percent, while demand for both crude and oil products will rise by about 6 percent.

China's dependency on imported oil rose by 47 percent of its annual demand last year, an increase of 4.1 percentage points from the previous year, sources with the Ministry of Commerce said yesterday.

Last year, China produced 183.68 million tons of crude oil, up 1.7 percent from the previous year. Its net oil imports amounted to 162.87 million tons, up 19.6 percent. The total net imports included 138.84 million tons of crude oil, up 16.9 percent from the previous year, and 24.03 million tons of oil products, up 37.9 percent from the previous year.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)