Published by: THE WORLD UYGHUR NETWORK NEWS, June 17, 1997

Beijing Xinhua, 06/12/97

Beijing, June 12 (Xinhua) -- Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in northwest China is expected to produce 30 million tons of crude oil and 6.9 billion cubic meters of natural gas by the year 2000. To date, a total of 35 oil and gas fields have been developed in the three great basins of Tarim, Junggar and Turpan-Hami in the region, with total annual crude output hitting 12.8 million tons. In addition, Xinjiang has developed a refining capacity of eight million tons.

Oil and gas production and petrochemical processing in Xinjiang has generated an annual output value totaling 14.5 billion yuan, according to an official from China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC). The three hydrocarbon-rich basins of Xinjiang, with total areas of 740,000 sq km, account for one quarter of the country's total oil and gas resources. The region's crude oil resource is 28 percent of the national total, and its gas, 33 percent.

According to CNPC, the three great basins of Tarim, Junggar and Turpan-Hami have entered a peak period in oil exploration and production, where a total of 75 large-sized industrial oil-bearing structures have been identified. The Chinese government has invested over 10 billion yuan over the past two years to speed up oil and gas development in the basins, which are expected to produce 15 million tons of crude by the end of the year. The oil experts here said that two oil fields, each with reserves above 100 million tons, have been discovered in the Tarim Basin and Junggar Basin.

So far, nine oil fields and 34 oil-bearing structures have been found in Tarim, which has developed an annual crude output of 2.5 million tons. It is estimated that the Tarim Basin has oil and gas resources totaling 10.1 billion tons and 8.3 trillion cubic meters respectively, amounting to one seventh and one quarter of the country's reserves. Fourteen large-sized oil and gas fields have so far been discovered alone in the Junggar Basin, with gas-bearing areas covering over 800 sq km.

Presently, the Cainan Oil Field, the country's first desert oil field with reserves in excess of one million tons, has become operative. Output from fields in the Turpan-Hami Basin is expected to double this year to three million tons. The CNPC source noted that notable progress has also been made in oil and gas exploration in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia region, the Sichuan Basin and Qinghai province where a gas-bearing area covering more than 2,000 sq km has been found with proven gas reserves totaling 100 billion cubic meters. A senior CNPC official noted that the northwestern parts of China will pay attention to both oil and gas development and oil processing. By the end of the century, the region will be developed into the country's most important bases of both oil production petrochemical processing. China plans to invest 29 billion yuan in the coming five years to develop 39 petrochemical projects, with petrochemical output value expected to hit 16 billion by the year 2000.

And by that time, the annual output value is expected to reach a value of 28.8 billion yuan. To speed up large-scale oil and gas development, the government of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has worked out a series of preferential policies in terms of examination and approval of projects, raw materials supply and use of land.