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Beijing: Enhanced oil imports by China since the Sichuan earthquake on May 12, which has seriously affected world oil prices, is expected to continue for a much longer time than what was expected initially.
In fact, there are signs that Beijing might further increase its oil imports to meet rising power shortages that go far beyond the situation in Sichuan province.
Power plants across the country has been hit by a serious shortage of coal, which is expected to further push up China's oil imports.
The State Electricity Regulatory Commission has said that 32 power plants had been shut down for want of sufficient coal.
Transportation bottlenecks in roads leadering from the the main coal mining areas is being cited as one of the main reasons why several power plants had just three weeks of coal stocks on Tuesday while those in Sichuan had just one week worth of stocks.
The government has made it clear that reconstruction and redevelopment of seriously damaged industrial assets including power plants will not be allowed in the "seismic belt" running through Sichuan and neighbouring provinces of Gansu and Shanxi.
An experts committee of geologists has been appointed to identify the seismic belt, and redevelopment of the badly damaged power plants will have to wait until the committee gives its report, sources said.
No deadline has been given for the committee's work, but it is expected to take at least a few months.
This decision is expected to cause long delay of many months, possibly more than one year, before electricity capacity reaches its original level in Sichuan.
The government has decided to allow repairs and restoration of damaged power plants that can be easily revived. But plants that require major investment and some amount of reconstruction will have to wait till a committee of geological experts gives their findings.
It has decided against making major investments or allowing large settlements of people along the seismic belt. The experts committee is engaged in accurately identifying the seismic belt, and it might take two to three months at the least.
Until Saturday evening, a total of 138,000 tonnes of oil had been sent to Sichuan as relief and feedstock for generators.
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