PetroChina has discovered a new fracture zone with petroleum reserves of 228 Mt at the Tarim oil field, in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (north-western China). PetroChina is the listed branch of state-owned China Petroleum National Corporation (CNPC). After production testing, the company China extracted 624 m3/d of crude oil and 371,000 m3/d of natural gas (i.e. an average of 135 mcm/year).
The Tarim oil and gas field is is estimated to hold more than 1,000 bcm of gas resources and is located in the Tarim Basin, where more than 80% of China's proved reserves of deep condensate oil and gas. So far, 14 ultra-deep and high-pressure complex condensate fields have been developed in the area, with a cumulated production capacity of more than 2 Mt/year of condensate oil and 10 bcm/year of gas. In January 2018, CNPC announced plans to increase the oil and gas output of its main production base in the Tarim basin by 20% over the 2018-2021 period. CNPC plans to add a new production zone to increase gas production by 3 bcm/year. The company expects 100 additional development wells to be drilled to reach this target. The Tarim field production is expected to reach 30 Mtoe/year by then, compared with the 25 Mtoe/year current production, of which 80% will be gas.