Sinopec discovers riches in Xinjiang

China Petrochemical Corp, or Sinopec, the world's largest refiner by volume, has discovered abundant flows of natural gas and crude oil at Shunbei oil and gas field in the Tarim Basin of Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

Located in the central and western regions of the Tarim Basin, the project, also called Shendi-1, has an average reservoir burial depth of more than 7,300 meters and is one of the world's deepest onshore commercial oil and gas fields, it said.

The discovery is a major milestone in the country's exploration of deep mineral resources, which will further improve China's energy supply while guaranteeing national energy security, said the company.

Luo Zuoxian, head of intelligence and research at the Sinopec Economics and Development Research Institute, said the discovery will substantially help boost domestic oil and gas output in the country.

"The Tarim Basin, a major petroliferous basin in China, as well as one of the most difficult to explore due to its harsh ground environment and complicated underground conditions, has sufficient energy resources that will guarantee a continuous supply for the country's future development," Luo said. "The discovery has revealed a positive resource prospect in the region."

In response to the government's call for increasing domestic oil and gas production, the major national oil companies are committed to China's Seven-Year Action Plans, which focus on domestic upstream production from 2019 to 2025, said Luo.

China's three biggest oil companies－China National Petroleum Corp, China Petrochemical Corp and China National Offshore Oil Corp－have been directed to maintain oil production and facilitate transportation to ensure stable supplies.

Sinopec said its northwest branch that is responsible for the Shunbei oilfield, has ascertained reserves of 1.67 billion metric tons of crude oil and 94.58 billion cubic meters of natural gas so far, with a total output of more than 140 million tons of oil and gas equivalents.

Sinopec President Ma Yongsheng said the company will step up the deep oil and gas exploration in the country in the years to come.

According to Sinopec, the country's oil and gas reserves in the deep and ultra deep layers are equivalent to 67.1 billion tons of oil equivalent that account to 34 percent of the country's total oil and gas reserves.

The Tarim Basin, for example, has oil resources buried between 6,000 meters and 10,000 meters that account for 83.2 percent of its total, while the corresponding figure for natural gas is as high as 63.9 percent, it said.