The energy intensity of China's centrally-administered state-owned enterprises fell close to government targets from 2005 to 2009, a senior SOE administrator said Monday.

The level of energy consumption per 10,000 yuan of output value was down 15.1 percent over the five-year period, said Li Rongrong, director of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC).

Combined investment in energy-efficient and emissions reduction projects by centrally-administrated SOEs totaled 87.84 billion yuan (US$12.9 billion) in 2009, said Li.

This helped reduce sulfur dioxide emissions per 10,000 yuan of output value by 36.8 percent and chemical oxygen demand by 33 percent compared with 2005 levels, said Li.

Enterprises executives who performed poorly in promoting energy conservation and emissions reductions, would be held for responsible by the SASAC, said Li.

But he did not explain what would be considered a "poor" performance nor what penalties would be enforced.

Under China's 11th five-year plan (2006-2010), the centrally-administered SOEs are expected to reduce energy intensity by 20 percent by the end of 2010 from 2005.

By the end of 2009, China had 131 centrally-administered SOEs, many of them leading companies in highly polluting industries, including petrochemicals, steel, power generation, and non-ferrous metals industries.

(Xinhua News Agency May 11, 2010)