Explorers announced in Harbin yesterday they have found China's fifth largest natural gas field in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang after a yearlong search of the area.
   
The Qingshen gas field is located in the county of Zhaozhou, about 140 kilometers west of the city of Daqing, the site of the country's largest oilfield.
   
The newly detected gas field is hidden beneath the Daqing Oilfield and was found after the efforts by more than 2,000 explorers, said Wang Yupu, president of Daqing Oilfield Co., Ltd.
   
A preliminary probe found that the gas field has reserves of at least 100 billion cubic meters.
   
The Qingshen gas field will exert great influence on China's natural gas distribution, said Jia Chengzao of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
   
Jia said international oil and gas explorers have for a long time said that a large oilfield would be accompanied by a large natural gas field.

(Xinhua News Agency November 16, 2005)