Daqing Oilfield steadily advances in oil, gas output

Daqing Oilfield, a subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), set new records in natural gas production in 2024 while maintaining stable crude oil production for a decade.

Natural gas output from Daqing Oilfield's two major fields surpassed 6 billion cubic meters, marking a year-on-year increase of 155 million cubic meters and extending its streak of 14 years of steady growth.

The two fields are in northeast China's Songliao Basin and southwest China's Sichuan-Chongqing exploration area.

Researchers in the Songliao Basin solved tough problems such as low reserve utilization by continuously making breakthroughs in improving output using tight gas technologies, retrieving scattered associated gas in shale oil for the first time and recovering 23 million cubic meters of such gas throughout the year. In 2024, the Songliao Baisin’s yearly output of natural gas reached 5 billion cubic meters for the first time.

In the Sichuan-Chongqing exploration area, natural gas production exceeded 1 billion cubic meters for the first time, an increase of 130 million cubic meters from the previous year.

Technicians there took innovative measures to unlock additional capacity, achieving the region's seventh consecutive year of growth with a new milestone of 1.6 billion cubic meters of natural gas output.

"This year our output of natural gas has exceeded 6 billion cubic meters, which has boosted our confidence and courage. In 2025, Daqing Oilfield will focus on tapping potential and expanding capacity of gas fields to make new breakthroughs in optimizing production patterns," said Zhao Yunfei, head of the development department of Daqing Oilfield.

Daqing Oilfield's Lamadian underground gas storage in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, the country's first such facility, has maintained safe and stable operation for over 50 years, with a cumulative gas injection and extraction volume exceeding 5 billion cubic meters, fully living up to its title as an "underground granary" to ensure natural gas supply.

The construction of China's first volcanic rock gas storage is underway in Heilongjiang. With five wells currently being drilled, the project aims to enhance natural gas distribution and supply ability.

Daqing Oilfield has also achieved stable crude oil production for 10 consecutive years, of which the output of tertiary recovery has exceeded 10 million tons for 23 consecutive years, with a cumulative output of nearly 320 million tons.

Daqing Oilfield steadily advances in oil, gas output

China's 2026 box office revenue had surpassed 14 billion yuan (about 2.06 billion U.S. dollars) as of Tuesday, fueled by a diverse array of hit movies and consumption promotion campaigns.

The film industry got off to a strong start during the Spring Festival holiday. "Pegasus 3," the latest installment in director Han Han's racing comedy franchise, amassed over 4 billion yuan and remains the year's top grossing film so far.

Released during the Qingming Festival, the comedy drama "It's OK" focused on a mother-daughter bond and resonated strongly with young women, topping April's box office chart with more than 160 million yuan in ticket sales.

During the just concluded May Day holiday, "Dear You," a low budget film in the Chaoshan (Teochew) dialect featuring an almost entirely first-time cast, became one of China's biggest cinematic surprises of 2026. As the highest rated domestic release so far this year, the tear-jerking drama had raked in over 180 million yuan as of Wednesday afternoon.

The five-day May Day holiday, a key period for movie-going, drew more than 20.8 million people to cinemas, a 10 percent jump from a year ago, while the number of screenings rose 2 percent to nearly 2.4 million.

Bolstered by the "2026 China Film Consumption Year" and "China Travel with Chinese Films" initiatives, cinema spending has become a major driver of cultural and tourism consumption. The entire film industry chain has generated over 220 billion yuan in output value since January.

China's 2026 box office surpasses 14 bln yuan