China waiting to increase fuel reserves

THE country will top up its strategic petroleum reserves when the international oil price is at a suitable level, the country’s top energy official said Thursday.

China is also at the early stage of studying a law on the management and use of strategic reserves, said Chen Deming, vice chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission. The study, which will also take in the commercial reserves held by China’s major State-owned oil companies, will likely be completed this year, Chen told reporters on the sidelines of the National People’s Congress.

Offshore fields open to overseas investors

CHINA National Offshore Oil Corp. Ltd. (CNOOC) has opened up to overseas investors 22 untapped oil and gas areas covering 114,050 square kilometers, mostly in South China Sea, Friday’s China Securities Journal reported. Most of these areas are in shallow waters, including three in Yellow Sea, four in East China Sea, 15 in South China Sea. Only one area is as deep as 200 to 2,000 meters. This is the largest round of bidding in terms of scale for years, a staff member with CNOOC told the newspaper. These areas are not open to domestic investors, according to CNOOC.

Car sales up 33% in first two months

PASSENGER car sales in China’s booming vehicle market soared by 33 percent in the first two months of this year compared with the same period of 2006, an industry association said Friday.

Total vehicle sales, which also counts trucks and buses, rose 25 percent, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) said. China surpassed Japan last year to become the world’s No. 2 vehicle market after the United States based on strong truck and bus sales, but still is in third place for passenger cars. Sedan sales in January and February totaled 712,200 units, while total vehicle sales were 1.3 million units, said the CAAM, the main government-authorized industry group.

(Last year, total vehicle sales, including trucks and buses, rose 25.1 percent to 7.2 million units, according to CAAM. Passenger car sales rose to 3.8 million.

In January and February, the top-selling auto model in China was the Santana sedan made by Shanghai Volkswagen Automotive Co., with 30,500 units sold, according to CAAM.

The top-selling automaker was General Motors Corp.’s joint venture with Shanghai Automotive Industrial Corp., Shanghai General Motors Co., at 67,500 units, according to the CAAM.

The top Chinese automaker was Chery Automobile Co., with 51,600 units sold, the group said.）