Its annual output of natural gas will reach 2 billion cubic meters, Wang Yilin, general manager of the Xinjiang Oilfield Company, said at a recent oil development forum.

To date, 25 oilfields have been proven at the Junggar Basin since the first oil well was drilled in the Heiyoushan area in 1955. The combined oil output of the oilfields in operation came to 9.68 million tons last year, doubling the 1978 figure.

Junggar Basin has oil reserves of 8.56 billion tons and 2.1 trillion cubic meters of natural gas. Of those, China had verified1.76 billion tons of oil and 62.93 billion cubic meters of gas by the end of last year. The basin will produce 12 million tons of oil and 3 billion cubic meters of gas annually by 2005, becoming the first oilfield with an annual output of 10 million tons in western China, Wang said.

(Xinhua News Agency August 12, 2002)