China's Daqing Field '06 Natural Gas Output Seen at 2.6 BCM

China's Daqing field is expected to produce 2.6 billion cubic meters of natural gas this year through the use of new technology that can extract resources from greater depths, Wang Yupu, chairman of Daqing Oil Field Co., said Monday.

In the period from 2006 to 2020, natural gas reserves at Daqing are expected to amount to 700 billion cubic meters, he said in a conference speech.

Annual natural gas production at Daqing, which is also China's biggest producing oil field, will reach 11.5 billion cubic meters by 2020, Wang added.

China wants to ramp up consumption of natural gas to help guarantee its energy security and cut pollution, as emissions from burning gas are lower than generating power from coal or oil.

In addition to increased domestic production, it has signed deals to bring in foreign supplies of natural gas by pipeline, notably from Russia and Turkmenistan.

It is also building a network of liquefied natural gas terminals along its coastline.

Daqing Oil Field is a unit of China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC.YY), or CNPC, China's largest oil producer by output.

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