OREANDA-NEWS. October 18, 2012. China's geological oil resources were put at 88.1 billion tonnes (643 billion barrels) in 2010, up 15 percent from a survey three years earlier, the China Petrochemical News reported, citing a survey by the Ministry of Land and Resources.

China, which is the world's second-largest oil consumer, rarely publishes data on its oil resources.

The survey showed recoverable oil resources were 23.3 billion tonnes, up from 21.2 billion tonnes in 2007.

Recoverable natural gas resources rose 45 percent to 32 trillion cubic metres (tcm). Total geological natural gas resources were up 49 percent at 52 tcm, the paper said.

It was not clear how much of the resources might be economic to exploit. Analysts predict China's dependence on imports will continue to grow as demand outstrips supply.

China's domestic crude oil production rose just 0.3 percent to 203.6 million tonnes in 2011, while natural gas output rose 6.9 percent to 102.53 billion cubic metres.

Since 2008, the Ministry of Land and Resources had asked oil companies to reassess areas such as Bohai Bay southeast of Beijing, Sichuan province and the Ordos Basin in the Inner Mongolia region for reserves, the paper said without elaborating.