Khartoum, Jan. 27 (SUNA) - The Second Meeting of the Arab - Chinese cooperation Conference in the fields of Energy Wednesday continues its sessions at the Friendship Hall in Khartoum and discussed many working papers of both the Arab and Chinese sides.
Dr. Jamil Taher warned in a paper he presented the Arab side about the great challenge facing the international oil industry in general and the Arab countries in particular. He pointed out that the Chinese demand for oil amounts to 28% of the international demand, adding that the production of oil in China reached this year 3.4 million barrels per day, affirming that Arab oil exports will reach 38.4 million barrels in 2030. Dr. Taher said that Arab countries need to inject huge investments to China which aims to build up a strategic reserve of 100 million barrels of oil. He called on Arab states to seek to promote investment opportunities in the sectors of industries, such as the refineries and petrochemicals. Meanwhile, the Deputy Director of oil and gas at Chinese National Energy Authority gave a presentation about the potentials of Chinese companies, pointing to the existence of three major companies in the production of energy in China, explaining that the production of oil in China in 2009 amounted to 188 million tons. He affirmed the development of oil industries in China, which achieved annual growth rate of 14%, indicating that his country has the advantage of oil exploration technology in complicated blocks and the development of fields with high rate of water. The Chinese official set the priorities for the Arab-Chinese cooperation by focusing on oil trade, cooperation in aspects of refining and technical and engineering services as well as petrochemicals. The Arab side, on the other side, presented a paper on the economics of the optimal operation of the oil refineries, focusing on the necessity of safety means and reducing risks and consideration of environment and ecological aspects. The Chinese side presented another two papers on the management systems of refineries in China and the development of the natural gas industry in China where Chinese consumption reached 80 billion cubic meters and there are efforts to rationalize the consumption to reach 19%.