BEIJING, August 6 (Xinhuanet) -- China's crude oil production in the first half of this year grew more than 30 million barrels from the same period last year, hitting a record high since 2000, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

    Liu Fujiang, deputy director of the industrial transportation statistic department under the NBS, said the output of China's crude oil reached 89.797 million tons in the first half of this year, a year-on-year increase of 4.8 percent, 2.9 percentage points higher than a year earlier.

    China's natural gas output reached 23.85 billion cubic meters, up 19.7 percent year on year, 4.8 percentage points higher than a year earlier, Liu told a symposium on China's oil and chemical industry held here on Thursday.

    Yang Weicai, vice president of the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Association, said that the total imported crude oil amounted to 63.552 million ton, only increasing 4.1 percent year on year, decelerating by 35.2 percent than the same period of 2004.

    Due to the big price gap between domestic and overseas refined oil, China's refined oil import slumped while exports soared, Yang said.

    In the first six months this year, China imported 15.73 million tons of refined oil, down 20.9 percent year on year. Meanwhile China's gasoline exports reached 3.35 million tons, up 31.6 percent, and diesel oil exports reached 631,000 tons, jumping 143.7 percent. Enditem