China Proven Oil, Gas Reserves Up More Than 20% In 2011 -Ministry

BEIJING, Feb 23, 2012 (Dow Jones) -- China's proven oil and gas reserves rose more than 20% in 2011 compared with the previous year, a Ministry of Land and Resources official said Thursday.

Proven oil reserves rose 20.6% to reach 1.37 billion metric tons, while technically-recoverable reserves rose 21.4% to 266 million tons, Xu Dachun, deputy head of the ministry's mineral resources reserve department, told reporters.

Proven natural gas deposits increased 29.6% to 765.95 billion cubic meters while technically-recoverable deposits rose 37.6% to 395.67 billion cubic meters.

Xu also said exploration led to the discovery of 57.51 billion tons of coal resources, 2.38 billion tons of iron ore and 3.82 million tons of copper, apart from 4.45 million tons of lead, 8.83 million tons of zinc and 743.6 tons of gold.