SETC's statistics show the country's crude oil output grew by 1.82% to 82.7 million tonnes from January to June of this year whilenatural gas output grew by 9 percent to reach 15.8 billion cubic meters. Though crude oil exports were flat, crude oil imports were3.5 percent higher than that in the same period of last year.

Over the six month period, the country processed about 100 million tonnes of crude oil, 1.4 percent down. However ethylene output, as a key index of a country's petrochemical industry, managed to inch up by 4.7 percent to 2.55 million tonnes.

Higher output was also reported in the fertilizer and pesticidesectors, where output stood at 18.43 million tonnes and 476,000 tonnes respectively, increases of 12 percent and 22.2 percent.

The output of caustic soda and soda ash also rose, with the former climbing 9.4 percent to 3.89 million tonnes while the latter 9.5 percent to reach 4.86 million tonnes.

An increase of 13.3 percent was registered in tire production, with the output standing at 77.92 million.

The industry mix also improved. While the recovery rate of gasoline and diesel increased by 1.02 percentage points, the diesel-to-gasoline ratio inched up by 0.12 percentage points.

In spite of its increased output, the major index of China's oil industry show a downward trend due to the sliding crude oil prices in the international market. During the January-May period,the industry realized an added value of 163.6 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 6.6%. Sales volume fell by 2.3% to 509.9 billion yuan and profits shrank by 29.7% to 36.4 billion yuan. Over this time, the country's product stockpile ran as high as 10 million tonnes.

(Xinhua News Agency July 17, 2002)