PetroChina aims to more than double its oil and gas output at domestic fields in cooperation with foreign partners by the end of 2015 to meet China's rising energy needs.

The Beijing-based company, China's biggest oil maker, said it plans output of at least 15 million tons of oil equivalent at the end of 2015 to deepen its cooperation with foreign companies in China, PetroChina's parent China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC)?said yesterday on its Website.

PetroChina's domestic output with foreign companies in China sat at 6.57 million tons of oil equivalent, CNPC said. PetroChina's total oil and gas output reached 1.18 billion barrels, or 161 million tons, in 2008.

PetroChina is teaming up with foreign counterparts such as Shell and the United States' second-biggest oil company Chevron to dig deeper in China's oil and gas fields.

PetroChina had signed 61 contracts with 48 oil companies from 12 countries and regions at the end of 2008, the statement said. By then, they had produced a combined oil of 32.99 million tons and 7.7 billion cubic meters of natural gas.

China's demand for energy is rising along with its rapid economic growth. The country's economy expanded 8.9 percent in the third quarter.