Declining to give more details, Wei said the provincial government was negotiating with international petroleum syndicates.

"Hainan boasts distinctive advantages for building both national strategic oil reserve base and commercial oil reserve base," he said.

China imported 47 percent of its oil last year.

Ma Kai, minister of the National Development and Reform Commission, said yesterday the country had been actively establishing oil reserves to ensure national energy and economic security.

The nation's oil imports in January rose 3.5 percent to a record 13.7 million metric tons (3.2 million barrels a day), the General Administration of Customs said last month.

In addition to fulfilling its oil reserve plans, the Guangdong governor also revealed yesterday that the province would strictly monitor the province's big energy enterprises to restrict their waste discharge.

New measures include satellite surveillance of industrial areas, and prosecuting firms that breach pollution laws.

Habitual offenders will be blacklisted and named by the government.

The governor said the province's major thermal power plants would be equipped with desulfurizing filters this year to reduce air pollution.

The southern province, one of the country's biggest energy consumers, maintains the lowest level nationwide of energy consumption rate per unit GDP value, Huang said.

(China Daily 03/08/2007 page6)

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