PetroChina discovers large gas reserve in Xinjiang region

Chinese oil and gas company PetroChina has discovered a large gas reservoir in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

According to an initial estimate, the discovery hosts more than 100 billion cubic metres of gas over an area of around 156 million square metres at the southern rim of the Junggar Basin.

State news agency Xinhua reported that the reservoir is expected to produce around 610,000m³ of natural gas and 106.3m³ of crude oil a day.

PetroChina Xinjiang branch general manager Huo Jin was quoted by the news agency as saying: “The discovery marks a major breakthrough in gas exploration in the southern rim of the Junggar Basin, which will further guarantee the gas supply of our company and contribute to the stability and prosperity of the region.”

The discovery comes more than a year after PetroChina found a similar sized reservoir at the Tarim basin.

PetroChina has also drilled three additional exploration wells near the newly found discovery.

According to Reuters, the oil and gas company had previously committed investing $22.9bn between 2018 and 2020 to increase oil and gas output at Xinjiang to one million barrels per day oil equivalent.

Earlier this month, China Oil & Gas Piping Network (PipeChina) opened the middle section of the natural gas pipeline from Russia to boost supplies.

The 100km-long pipeline section stretches from Changling, Jilin, to Yongqing, Hebei, and will enable supplies to the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region in northern China.