Factbox: Investment in geological exploration surges

Investment in geological exploration over the past decade surged in China as rapid urbanization boosted market demand for energy resources.

The following are key facts and figures relating to geological exploration during the 2002-2011 period, according to the Ministry of Land Resources:

-- About 111.66 billion yuan (17.72 billion U.S. dollars) of investment was made for geological exploration in 2011, five times of that in 2002.

-- Investment for oil and gas exploration, which was mainly made by state-owned oil giants Sinopec, PetroChina, China National Offshore Oil Corporation and Shaanxi Yanchang Petroleum Group, increased 2.5 times to 67.3 billion yuan from 2002 to 2011.

-- During the period, non oil and gas exploration investment jumped 12.7 times to 44.35 billion yuan.

-- From 2002 to 2011, investment for mining exploration increased 19 times to 35.5 billion yuan, of which social funds accounted for 70 percent, making it the main capital source for mining exploration.

-- Boosted by the investment surge, the country discovered 2,095 large- and medium-sized mine sites during the past ten years.

-- As of 2011, the country had 1.38 trillion tonnes of proven coal reserves, a rise of 35.2 percent from 2002.

-- From 2002 to 2011, technical recoverable oil reserves and natural gas reserves increased by 36.2 percent and 99.4 percent to 3.24 billion tonnes and 4 trillion cubic meters, respectively.