China's energy industry imports technology worth 9.34 billion dollars in five years

BEIJING, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- China's energy industry, including power production and supply, coal mining, petroleum and natural gas supply, imported 1,700 items of technology with a combined contract value of 9.34 billion U.S. dollars in the 2001-2005 period.

The technology import value of the energy sector accounted for 12.9 percent of the country's total technology import during the period, according to a release of the Ministry of Commerce on Tuesday.

The imported technology has mainly been used in major Chinese energy projects such as the Three Gorges power project, key nuclear power plants and electricity and natural gas transmission projects from the resources-rich western China to the country's power- thirsty eastern part, the ministry said.

By the end of 2005, China's installed capacity of power projects reached 500 million kilowatts, with annual power output of 2.4 trillion kilowatts, ranking the second in the world, it said.

In 2005, China's coal output exceeded 2.1 billion tons, and crude oil output grew 3.7 percent to 180 million tons, it said.