China has discovered a group of large oil fields with annual production capacities of more than 100 million metric tons and gas fields with capacities of more than 100 billion cubic meters this year, said Xu Shaoshi, minister of land and resources, on Sunday.

The country has also achieved technological breakthroughs in shale gas, deep-water petroleum and gas exploration activities, he said.

In the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, as well as in Qinghai, Jiangxi, Sichuan and Guizhou provinces, a series of coal and nonferrous metals mining resources production bases are being developed, which will transform China’s resources exploration pattern.

Xu said the country should boost efforts on resources exploration activities to end the limitations on economic development caused by the shortage of resources.

"In the past three years, the costs of oil, gas and mining resources exploration have increased largely globally," said Xu. "The urbanization of new emerging countries will continue to create big demand for resources. Many countries have also carried out policies to boost the economy, which leads to positive estimates for the development of the mining industry."

dujuan@chinadaily.com.cn