The China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC), China's biggest oil producer, has started to develop the country's largest condensed gas field, Dina, in the Tarim Basin of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

The gas field will be developed into a major source of natural gas to transfer from western China to the energy-starved East, the China Land and Resources News reported.

Located in the Kuqa County of Xinjiang, the gas field will produce 5.1 billion cubic meters of natural gas, accounting for 40 percent of the total gas to be transferred to eastern China.

Meanwhile, the gas field is also expected to produce 300,000 tons of condensed oil and 500,000 tons of liquefied gas and other byproducts.

At present, the corporation is conducting the feasibility study on the project before exploration and the work will be finished at the end of this year. The gas field will be put into operation at the end of 2006.

China started to construct a massive project to transfer the abundant natural gas resources from western China to the energy-starved but industry-intensive eastern regions in July 2002.

The gigantic 4,000-km pipeline, the longest in the country, went into commercial operation on Dec. 30 last year.