Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region is targeting annual coal output of 400 million tons by 2015, 231% increase from the 120.7 million tons produced in 2011, the provincial arm of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said on July 20.
The target is included in Xinjiang's 12th Five-Year Energy Development Plan, which aims to make the western region China's largest fossil fuel base, according to the commission.
Xinjiang is China's eighth-largest coal producing region and lags far behind Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces, the three largest.
As Inner Mongolia, Shanxi and Shaanxi plan to cap coal production through 2015 to diversify their economies and reduce environmental degradation, Xinjiang will have a chance to narrow the coal output gap, Li Zhaolin, a senior coal researcher at a Beijing-based industry consultancy said. Li forecast that Xinjiang might replace Henan as the fourth-largest coal producing region by 2015.
Xinjiang's coal output in 2012 is expected to reach 169 million tons, the Xinjiang Coal Industry Bureau, a state-run industry body, forecast in February. The region's coal production has been growing at an average annual rate of 15% since 2005.
In addition to coal, Xinjiang now produces over 12% of the country's crude oil and almost 30% of the country's natural gas. Xinjiang's oil and gas output will exceed 65 million tons of oil equivalent in 2015, the provincial arm of the NDRC forecast on July 20