Natural gas reverses totaling 657.9 billion cubic meters have
been proved in the Tarim Basin in Xinjiang, northwest China, which
will ensure a long-term stable supply of gas to energy-thirsty
eastern China, an oilfield executive said Sunday.
Potential gas reserves in Tarim, China's largest inland basin
extending 530,000 square kilometers, are expected to reach 8.4
trillion cubic meters, or a quarter of China's total natural gas
resources on land, said Sun Longde, general manager of the Tarim
Oilfield Company.
Over the past 15 years, the company has discovered 40 gas
fields, where 1.38 trillion cubic meters of gas has been verified,
said Sun.
Beginning January 1, 2005, the company will pump natural gas to
the west-east pipeline, a key state project targeted at sending 12
billion cubic meters of gas a year in the west for industrial and
domestic use in Shanghai and other parts of the Yangtze River Delta
in the east.
The annual production of the oilfield is expected to be 14
billion cubic meters by then.
Sun said his company is working for an annual gas production
capacity of 30 billion cubic meters a year so that it can ensure as
table supply to the pipeline for about 30 years.
Construction of the pipeline started in July 2002 and will
cost140 billion yuan (US$17 billion).
(Xinhua News Agency April 11, 2004)