The country needs to restrict annual growth in energy consumption to 2.5 percent in the coming years, so as to achieve the long-term goal, Zhang said.

By 2040, China's total consumption of primary energy resources will rise by 300 percent to equal 3.86 billion tons of standard coal, while the maximum domestic supply will be equal to 3.2 billion tons of standard coal per year.

China's proven reserves of coal, crude oil and natural gas account for 11 percent, 2.4 percent and 1.2 percent respectively of the world's total.

China's per capita volume of each of the three resources, however, is less than half of the world' average, because of the country's large population, which accounts for some 20 percent of the world's total.

It is therefore critical for China to address the supply bottleneck by improving the structure of its energy supply and increasing energy utilization efficiency, Zhang said.

(People's Daily November 6, 2001)