China is forecast to produce 189 million tonnes of crude oil in 2008, a growth of 1.61 percent over the 186 million tonnes last year, according to a recent report released by the nation's leading oil producer, PetroChina.

China is forecast to produce 189 million tonnes of crude oil in 2008, a growth of 1.61 percent over the 186 million tonnes last year, according to a recent report released by the nation's leading oil producer, PetroChina.

The production would rank the nation fifth among all the oil producing countries around the world.

The report said China had verified oil deposits of 20.7 billion tonnes over the past 30 years.

In the three decades, Daqing Oilfield in northeastern China pumped out 1.576 billion tonnes of crude oil, or more than 40 percent of China's total onshore crude output for the period. It kept annual crude oil output at more than 50 million tonnes for 27 consecutive years.

Shengli Oilfield on the eastern coast produced 805 million tonnes of crude in the 30 years, or more than 20 percent of the onshore crude output nationwide for the period. In 2007, it continued to maintain annual crude production at 27.7 million tonnes.

The report said China's annual natural gas output increased from 13.9 billion cubic meters in 1978 to 69.8 billion cu m in 2007. This year the production would reach 76 billion cu m, the report predicted.

A total of 5.7 trillion cu m of natural gas deposits were verified in the 30 years, the report added.

In recent three years, China's natural gas output kept increasing at an annual pace of more than 17 percent on average, much higher than the world average of four percent.

(Xinhua News Agency December 28, 2008)