The impact of the petroleum industry has been increasing globally as China ranks seventh for oil production and second in crude oil consumption in the world. China imported a record 6.7 million barrels a day (b/d) of oil in 2015 and was forecast "to overtake the U.S. as the world's biggest crude importer in 2016".

The Daqing Oil Field, formerly romanized as "Taching", is the largest oil field in the People's Republic of China, located between the Songhua river and Nen River in Heilongjiang province. When the Chinese government began to use pinyin for romanization, the field's name became known as Daqing.