China Targets to Produce 10BCM Gas a Yr From Daqing Field

China is targeting production of 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas a year from its largest oilfield, Daqing, said a senior government official.

The oilfield, located in Heilongjiang province, northeastern China, will be run by PetroChina Co. (PTR), China's largest oil producer by output.

'The newly-discovered natural gas reserves in the deep section of Daqing will be able to yield 10 billion cubic meters of gas a year,' Zhang Guobao, vice head of the National Development and Reform Commission, said Monday in a press conference. He did not state a timeframe for the target.

Increasing natural gas production at the Daqing oilfield will help make up for the declines in its crude oil output, said Zhang.

Daqing's crude oil output in 2006 fell 3.4% to 43.41 million metric tons or 871,768 barrels a day, as existing reserves continued to be depleted.

However, compared with Daqing's natural gas output in 2006, at 2.6 billion cubic meters, it may take 10 years for Daqing to reach the target, said analysts.

China aims to produce a combined 7 billion cubic meters of natural gas, 57 million tons of crude oil and 300 million tons of coal a year by 2010 in the three northeastern provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning, according to a government plan for development of the provinces.