The project has been completed and put into production at the end of 2016. It is of great significance for solving China's oil and gas shortages, balancing the energy structure, reducing external dependence and ensuring national energy security, said Yao.

On Dec 17, 2017, the coal-to-liquids project achieved operation at full capacity for the entire plant. It now still maintains an average load of 85 percent and has produced 2.89 million tons of oil products with multiple indicators reaching advanced values.

The project is located at Ningdong Energy and Chemical Industry Base in central and eastern Ningxia.

In 2017, the base's total industrial output value reached 100.48 billion yuan ($14.77 billion) with a year-on-year increase of 41.1 percent, accounting for 24.2 percent of that of Ningxia.