China's leading oilfield, Daqing, said on Thursday it will make efforts to maintain high output, to ease oil shortage in domestic market.

Daqing aims to produce around 40 million tonnes of crude oil every year in the next 10 years, said Wang Yupu, the oilfield's general manager.

Despite declining reserves, Daqing will rely on high-tech to maintain high output, he said.

Production of Daqing oilfield was 44.95 million tonnes in 2005. It soon declined to 2007's 41.70 million tonnes, down 4 percent from 2006's 43.41 million tonnes.

China consumed more than 300 million tonnes of crude oil last year, 180 tonnes of the total consumption was imported from overseas markets, he said.

"Although an annual output of 40 million tonnes is not enough to fill the big gap between supply and consumption, it is crucial to the country's economic development." said Wang.

Surging oil prices in the world market have put the country under great pressure in recent years. The situation may get even worse if China continues to largely rely on import, Wang explained.

Daqing pledged to increase oil production by introducing more advanced technologies, he added, but failed to tell more details.

Daqing produced more than 1.9 billion tonnes of crude oil in the past 50 years, accounting for 40 percent of the country's total.

(Xinhua News Agency July 18, 2008)