CHENGDU - About 3.8 trillion cubic meters of natural gas deposits have been
discovered in southwest China's Sichuan Basin, with verified exploitable
reserves topping 600 billion cubic meters.
The reserves were discovered in Dazhou, a gas-rich city in Sichuan Province.
By 2010, the newly found deposits will raise the city's gas output to 24
billion cubic meters and surplus to more than 4.3 million tons, according to a
Dazhou official at the on-going Western China International Economy-Trade Fair
on Saturday.
China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), the country's biggest oil and
gas producer, and Sinopec Corporation, China's largest refiner, plan to build
five purification plants in Dazhou and are expected to purify a total of 74
million cubic meters of natural gas a day by 2010.
Dazhou City, located in eastern Sichuan, covers an area of 16,600 square
kilometers with a population of 6.46 million.
