The Tarim oilfield in northwest China now injects 36 million cubic meters of natural gas a day into the country's west-to-east gas pipeline, up 38 percent compared with early 2006, company sources said.

That is enough for 100,000 three-person families for 500 days, according to Tarim Oilfields Co. Ltd, a subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corporation, the country's leading oil company.

Last year, the Tarim oilfield produced 11 billion cubic meters of gas, piping 9.8 billion cubic meters to eastern regions.

CNPC Tarim Oilfields is a key player in the 4,200-km pipeline, which begins in Lunnan, southern Xinjiang, and ends in Baihe Town in east China's Shanghai, with a designed annual transmission capacity of 12 billion cubic meters.

The pipeline now supplies gas to more than 70 cities in 12 provinces or regions, including Jiangsu, Hunan, Hubei, Tianjin and Beijing.

The Tarim oilfield plans to produce 15.3 billion cubic meters of gas this year.

Situated in southern Xinjiang, the 560,000 square-kilometer Tarim Basin has proven oil reserves of 526 million tons and 724 billion cubic meters of gas.

Source:Xinhua