Photo shows the Zhongjiang Gas Field in Sichuan.(Photo provided to China News Service by Sinopec)

(ECNS)--Another 34.029 billion cubic meters of natural gas were discovered at the Zhongjiang Gas Field in SW China's Sichuan Basin,bringing the accumulated known reserves of natural gas there to 106.1 billion cubic meters.

The Zhongjiang Gas Field is located in Zhongjiang County,Deyang City and covers an area of 404.9 square kilometers.The gas field is a typical compact sandstone gas reservoir characterized by low porosity,low permeability,and concealment.The burial depth of its main gas reservoirs is 2000 to 3000 meters.

The Zhongjiang gas field has produced 5.29 billion cubic meters of natural gas so far.It has produced more than 1 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year for two consecutive years,equivalent to 5.5 million households'daily gas consumption.

The Sichuan Basin is abundant in both deep-seated natural gas and shale gas and is key to future efforts to step up the country's output.However,the low proven rate and rough conditions for exploitation and construction have made the field challenging to develop.

After years of exploration,various difficulties have been solved and now China has become one of the few countries to master the exploration and development of large ultra-deep gas fields with high sulfur content.

Currently,more than 20 large and middle-sized oil and gas fields have been developed in the Sichuan Basin,with the accumulated natural gas production exceeding 80 billion cubic meters.Annual natural gas production has exceeded 8 billion cubic meters so far,benefiting more than 200 million residents in eight provinces along the Yangtze River.