Crude imports may reach 160 million tons (about 3.2 million barrels a day) from last year's 145 million tons, China Petrochemical Corp., the nation's largest oil refiner, said today in its online newsletter Sinopecnews. China's crude imports climbed 3.5 percent in 2005 and 34.8 percent in 2004, according to customs data.

The world's second-biggest energy user is closing inefficient plants and penalizing polluting power generators after missing a 2006 target to cut the amount of energy used for each unit of gross domestic product by 4 percent. China is boosting the use of renewable resources such as biomass to further reduce its reliance on overseas oil.

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