China's biggest oilfield output drops...peaked!

[Bigmack]

By Winnie Zhu
Jan. 3 (Bloomberg) -- PetroChina Co.'s parent said crude oil production from Daqing, the nation's biggest oilfield, fell 4 percent as reserves decline. Output dropped to 41.7 million metric tons from 43.5 million tons in 2006, parent China National Petroleum Corp. said in a statement on its Web site today. Natural gas production increased 2 percent from a year earlier to 2.55 billion cubic meters.

Output from Daqing, discovered almost half a century ago in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang, has fallen from a peak of 56 million tons in 1997. Crude output may decline by about 9 percent by 2010, PetroChina said in October.

Daqing's output may drop to 40 million tons in 2008, 38.9 million tons in 2009 and 38 million tons in 2010, Jia Dong, a chief accountant at PetroChina's exploration and production unit, said Oct. 25. Gas production from the field will almost double to 5 billion cubic meters in 2010, Jia said.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20602099&sid=a3q5ttMMHQHU&refer=energy

[kurth]

1. Chinese gasoline prices rank among the lowest in the world for oil-importing countries

Purpose is encourage consumption, and increase the attendant pollution.