Offshore: The Petroleum Industry in The People's Republic of China 1969-1978

Abstract

Before the Communist regime came to power in the autumn months of 1949, it was generally believed that China's petroleum resources were very limited, perhaps nothing more than a few isolated deposits of shale oil. However, the remarkable achievements of the Chinese people in the oil industry over the years have done much to alter this belief. From a meager 121,000 metric tons in 1949 (1), China's output of crude oil soared to an impressive 90 million metric tons in 1976. (2) Although the annual rate of increase has declined somewhat since 1974, these statistics represent an annual average rate of increase in crude output in excess of 20 percent up to 1974. (3) At present, the People's Republic of China ranks fifth in the world as a producer of primary energy, behind only the United States, the Soviet Union, Saudi Arabia, and Iran. (4)