He said the country had begun the coal-liquefying projects without  trial industrialization operation, and the technologies involved were not sophisticated yet.

And both coal and petroleum are irreproducible energy resources, he said.

However, the country has never slackened its efforts to find substitutes for petroleum.

China said on Tuesday it has successfully excavated combustible ice--a kind of natural gas hydrate--from below the floor of the South China Sea after nine years of research in this field.

The Chinese government said recently it upheld the development of renewable resources as an important national strategy, and would continue to boost the development of hydro power, solar power, wind power, biomass fuel and methane.

The current seminar was hosted by Chinese Academy of Engineering with sponsorship from Denmark-based Novozymes, the world's leader in enzymes and microorganisms. Discussions focus on the industrializaton of China's fuel ethanol.

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