Saving while drilling

Increased domestic supply is essential to meeting China's expanding demand for natural resources like oil, coal and natural gas. But it alone will not guarantee energy security if the country cannot raise its energy efficiency swiftly and substantially.

According to the newly issued national plan on mineral resources development, China will double its natural gas output by 2015, while increasing annual production of coal and oil by 30 percent and 7 percent respectively from that of 2007.

As a fast-growing economy, China's ever increasing appetite for energy and other natural resources has long weighed on the minds of Chinese policymakers.