Oil and natural gas output at PetroChina's Changqing field has
exceeded 20 million tons so far this year, meeting the company's
2007 target a few days earlier.
Changqing has become China's third largest oil field, after
Daqing and Shengli.
A PetroChina official said Changqing took 33 years to reach an
annual oil and gas output of 10 million tons but only four years to
double that level. The official said this progress was almost
miraculous in light of the history of ultra-low-permeability oil
field development.
During the past 30 years, its aggregate output of crude oil grew
1.35 times to reach 57.02 million tons. On the natural gas front,
its output rose 17-fold over the past 30 years to 42.75 billion
cubic meters.
In an attempt to cut costs, the oilfield reduced the number of
large-scale production facilities, usually with a capacity of more
than 1 million tons, from 25 to five that used more efficient
technology. It had thus been able to employ fewer people -- one
third fewer than other oilfields with equivalent capacities.
PetroChina Changqing Oilfield, located in the Ordos Basin, is
one of the most important oil and gas blocks in China. Its oil and
gas are marketed in several western provincial regions including
Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, Sichuan and Inner Mongolia.
(Xinhua News Agency December 25, 2007)
