China will give top priority to energy statistics in the economic census next year, a senior statistician said yesterday.

"To help meet the country's target for energy efficiency and emission reduction, the State Council will strengthen energy statistics collection, which was weak before. The economic census for next year will center on this segment, and the overall situation of society's energy consumption will be fully investigated," said Geng Qin, deputy director of department of industry and transport statistics, National Bureau of Statistics.

China's energy consumption per unit of gross domestic product (GDP) last year dipped 1.33 percent, a little higher than the 1.23 percentage point previously thought, Geng said.

China plans to trim per-unit-GDP energy consumption by 20 percent by 2010. That means a 4 percent energy consumption drop per year during the country's 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10).

Last year, the country's provinces and regions, except Beijing, did not fulfill the goal of 4 percent energy reduction per GDP unit, Geng said.

Wu Zhonghu, a key drafter of China's first Energy Law, told China Daily yesterday the law would institute the importance of collecting energy statistics.

He said that while the Law on Conserving Energy focuses on consumption-oriented energy statistics, the Energy Law will address the issue of energy statistics gathering from a broader perspective, involving production, distribution and consumption.

China's top legislature began deliberating a draft amendment to the Law on Conserving Energy, which details measures to avoid energy wastage, improve energy efficiency and cut emissions, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

Xu Dingming, vice-chairman of Office of the National Energy Leading Group, yesterday said the third working draft of the proposed Energy Law has been completed and it will be subject to review by regional authorities and major energy producers and consumers across the country very soon.

Xu did not elaborate on the content of articles addressing energy statistics collection in the proposed Energy Law.

The National Bureau of Statistics and BP launched China Energy Statistical Yearbook 2006 and BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2007 in Beijing yesterday. This is the third consecutive year for BP and a key Chinese government department to jointly launch an energy statistics publication.

The China Energy Statistical Yearbook 2006 covers domestic energy data, up to 2005-end, including energy infrastructure development, energy production, national energy balance sheet, energy consumption and regional energy balance sheet.

Data from BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2007 show 2006 was another year of high, volatile energy prices. But despite the high prices, world energy consumption growth remained above average, continuing the trend of recent years.

(China Daily July 3, 2007)