China's domestic situation determines that its energy prices will not rise significantly in the short term, according to Fu Chengyu, China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) chief executive officer.

Fu made the remarks when replying to Rob Morrison, chairman and CEO of Credit Lyonnais Securities Asia (CLSA), who said the effective way for China to raise energy efficiency was to increase its energy prices, which were set at a low level by the government.

"Energy security is indeed one of the challenges China needs to tackle now," said Fu at the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) annual conference here on Saturday in Hainan, China's southernmost island province.

"But to make policy decisions as whether to raise energy prices, China has to consider a variety of factors, such as its impact on high-flying domestic inflation and the living expense of its low-income people," Fu said.

China froze its electricity prices to prevent the rising costs being transferred to end-users amid the highest Consumer Price Index (CPI) in 11 years. It has also kept low domestic oil prices from rising against international crude prices, and gives refiners subsidies to compensate their loss.

Despite relatively low energy prices, the inflation indicator CPI still rose to 8.7 percent in February, led by a major wave of price increases in pork, eggs and other agriculture products in China. It had considerably pushed up the living expense of ordinary Chinese.

Established in 2001, the BFA is a pan-Asian platform of dialogue for key issues relating to Asia and the world. The theme of the 2008 conference is "Green Asia: moving towards win-win through changes".

(Xinhua News Agency April 13, 2008)