Vehicle, vessel taxes THE Finance Ministry said late Tuesday it will scrap vehicle and vessel taxes on new energy vehicles and ships powered by natural gas, as part of its efforts to encourage cleaner energy consumption. The ministry will also cut the tax on some small engine vehicles by half, according to a statement on its website. The vehicle and vessel tax is paid by the owner of cars and ships, the ministry added. Payment fines THE central bank said it has fined two payment firms — Kayou and Free My Pay — a total of 34.75 million yuan (US$5.09 million) for irregularities after months of spot checks in both companies. The People’s Bank of China will continue to step up regulation on payment and settlement markets, and strictly punish all illicit activities, it said. CNPC production up CHINA National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) said yesterday its first-half overseas equity oil and gas production rose 7.3 percent from the same period a year earlier, with profit from those operations increasing “substantially.” The State-owned company, China’s biggest oil and gas producer, said its share of January-June output at overseas projects in which it has investments came in at over 47 million tons of oil equivalent, or around 1.9 million barrels of oil equivalent per day. Renewable power LEVELS of wasted power in China’s renewable sector fell in the first half of this year, but securing grid access for many new clean energy projects remains a challenge, an energy bureau official said. China’s total renewable energy capacity reached 680 gigawatts by the end of June, up 13 percent on the year, accounting for nearly 40 of total energy capacity. |