SHANGHAI, China (AP) — China has released a draft of a long-awaited energy law that calls for the country to keep larger reserves of oil, uranium and other key resources and to set up a new government department.

But the draft law makes scant mention of measures needed to counter soaring emissions of greenhouse gases linked to global climate change.

Beijing has no separate energy ministry of its own, and the lack of unified policies for the industry is viewed as one factor behind recent fuel shortages, price gouging and other problems. The new law is intended to help the country better develop the strategically vital energy sector. The government will collect opinions on the draft until February 1 and later is expected to present it to the National People's Congress for approval.

The official Xinhua News Agency yesterday cited a legal scholar, Ye Rongsi, as saying that the law would take effect in 2009 at the earliest. The current draft is the fourth so far, it noted.

State media reports said the draft law calls for setting up an energy department directly controlled by the State Council, or Cabinet, to oversee related industries.

China created an Energy Ministry in 1988, but abolished it in 1993 during a bureaucratic overhaul. An energy bureau, within the main planning agency, the National Development and Reform Commission, was set up in 2003 to oversee oil and gas, coal, electricity and alternative energy sources.

In 2005, the government set up an energy "working group" of top leaders from various ministries, headed by Premier Wen Jiabao.

While not of ministry status, the energy department proposed in the current draft law would exercise stronger control over market entry and pricing and would be under the aegis of the State Council.