The Tarim Oilfield in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region has supplied over 400 billion cubic meters of natural gas to eastern China through the West-to-East Gas Pipeline since its launch 22 years ago, according to the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC).
The company said the natural gas from the oilfield has helped secure energy supplies for nearly 500 million people downstream of the pipeline network.
This achievement has been underpinned by sustained production increases in recent years from the Kela-2 gas field, a key pillar of the Tarim Oilfield.
"Over the 22 years since it went into operation, the Kela-2 gas field has delivered more than 150 billion cubic meters of gas to the West-to-East pipeline, and has developed a highly efficient production model along the way," said Zhang Long, Party branch secretary of the Kela Processing Station under the Tarim Oilfield.
Meanwhile, with a number of new ultra-deep wells coming on stream, the Kela-Keshen gas field -- the first trillion-cubic-meter scale gas field in the Tarim Basin -- has seen its proven geological reserves exceed 1 trillion cubic meters.
In addition, the transmission and distribution capacity at the pipeline hubs has also been upgraded. The Tarim Oilfield has completed three rounds of expansion at the Lunnan Gas Station in Luntai County -- known as the first station of the West-to-East gas pipelines, which links various gas sources to the main pipeline network -- achieving a leapfrog increase in its transmission capacity.
"Every day, 50 million cubic meters of natural gas now flows downstream through our first station. Thanks to the three expansions, the station's annual supply capacity has grown from 12 billion to its current 40 billion cubic meters," said Zou Tao, station master at the first station of the West-to-East gas pipelines under the Oil and Gas Marketing and Transportation Department of the Tarim Oilfield.
The Tarim Oilfield is located in the Tarim Basin, China's largest petroliferous basin, which accounts for one-sixth of the country's total natural gas production. In recent years, the oilfield has pushed exploration and development into ever-deeper strata, successively discovering two trillion-cubic-meter gas-bearing zones -- the Kela-Keshen and Bozi-Dabei gas fields -- and has maintained an efficient, stable annual gas output of over 31 billion cubic meters for six consecutive years.
Today, every hour, more than 2 million cubic meters of natural gas from the Tarim Oilfield flows directly to the Yangtze River Delta and other regions in eastern China.
Tarim Oilfield supplies over 400 bln cubic meters of gas to east China for 22 years
