(ECNS) -- The cumulative natural gas output of the Kela-Keshen gas field, located in the Tarim Basin of northwest China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, has reached 200 billion cubic meters, said the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) on Sunday.

The Tarim is a major petroliferous basin, and the Kela-Keshen gas field serves as a key provider of the West-East natural gas transmission project.

The field has discovered five new gas reservoirs in recent years, with a new natural gas production capacity of 5.65 billion cubic meters, equivalent to an oilfield with an annual output of 4.5 million tons.

The burial depth here can reach 4,500 to 8,100 meters due to the complicated structure of the gas field, making it both a no-man’s land and extremely difficult to exploit.

Since it was put into operation in 2004, the Kela-Keshen gas zone has produced a total of 200.591 billion cubic meters of natural gas. It has established six gas wells with a total production of over 10 billion cubic meters and 17 gas wells with over one billion cubic meters.

In 2022, its total output has exceeded 13 billion cubic meters, benefiting over 3,000 large and medium-sized enterprises and 400 million people in 160 cities, according to the CNPC.