China thirsty for overseas oil: minister

Seoul (CNS) -- China desires to step up its oil trade with more oil-rich countries due to an increasing dependence on petroleum imports, reiterated Minister Miao Wei of Industry and Information Technology.

Miao was attending a media briefing held by the Chinese delegation to the Seoul Nuclear Security Summit, Tuesday afternoon.

In 2011, oil imports accounted for more than half of China's total petroleum consumption, in spite of its huge efforts to develop clean energy systems.

China is exploring multiple sources of oil and supplies of other sorts of energy, and has already established stable trade ties for petroleum and natural gas with Russia and other member states of the Commonwealth of Independent States.