Tainan Gas Field of the Qinghai Oilfield has reported an additional 52.63 billion cubic meters of proven natural gas reserve, bringing the total proven natural gas reserve in Qaidam Basin in northwest China's Qinghai province to 303.9 billion cubic meters.

As one of the three major gas fields of Qinghai Oilfield, located in the Qaidam Basin, the Tainan gas field boasts 35.9 square kilometers of area. It was first discovered in 1987. Its proven natural gas reserve reached 42.53 billion cubic meters in 1997.

According to an assessment by the Ministry of Land and Resources this year, however, the Tainan gas field's newly prove reserve amounted as high as 52.63 billion cubic meters, bringing its total proven natural gas reserve to 95.16 billion cubic meters and that of the Qaidam Basin to 303.9 billion cubic meters.

Qaidam Basin, with a total area of 256,000 sq km, is one of the four major gas fields of China. The three others are respectively the southwestern Sichuan Basin, Xinjiang and the central part of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia basin in the northwest.

A gas-transmission pipeline network, with a transportation capacity of 3.3 billion cubic meters, has been laid in the outlying Qaidam Basin.