Gas engineers have confirmed the discovery of a 160-billion-cubic-meter combined gas reserve consisting of four large fields in gas-rich Sichuan Province in southwest China, according to China National Petroleum Corporation.
The Luojiazhai Gas Field, the largest of the four, situated in the northeast of Sichuan, has a single reserve of 58 billion cubic meters, the largest ever found in the Sichuan Basin, China's largest gas base, said He Zhi, an assistant manager with the southwest oil-gas branch of China National Petroleum Corporation, the project developer.
The other three fields near the Luojiazhai field have a combined reserve of 95 billion cubic meters, according to estimates by a panel of state experts. An additional field is still being studied.
One hundred gas fields have been discovered thus far in the province, making it the most important reserve for the nation's massive project involving pumping gas eastwards to the economically advanced coastal regions.
The Lujianzhai, a major source for the gas-transfer project, is witnessing the construction of numerous gas facilities, including four gas collection-transmission stations and more than 10 drilled wells, said He.
(Xinhua News Agency January 9, 2003)
