y the end of 2021, China's oil and natural gas reserves reached 3.69 billion tons and 6.34 trillion cubic meters respectively, according to the 2022 China Mineral Resources report released by the Ministry of Natural Resources.

Breakthroughs were made in oil and gas exploration in several basins including Ordos Basin, Junggar Basin, Tarim Basin, Sichuan Basin and Bohai Bay Basin.

Last year, the investment in geological exploration of non-oil-gas minerals achieved positive growth for the first time since 2013, the report said.

China also made significant progress in geological exploration of non-oil-gas minerals. In 2021, 95 mineral deposits were discovered throughout China, including 38 large, 34 middle and 23 small deposits.