China Daqing oilfield to hold back decline in '07

BEIJING, Oct 15 (Reuters) - China's biggest oilfield, Daqing, will produce oil and gas equivalent to some 45 million tonnes of crude in 2007, roughly the same amount as last year, the company's chairman Wang Yupu said on Monday.

Daqing, owned by the country's top oil and gas producer, PetroChina (0857.HK) (PTR.N), has also made an oil and gas find with commercially recoverable reserves in Inner Mongolia, Wang said, but declined to comment further on its size.

The find might help supplement dwindling production from Daqing, China's largest field, which has pumped 1.91 billion tonnes of oil since 1960.

Crude output last year slipped 3 percent to 43.31 million tonnes, although that still accounted for nearly a quarter of domestic production.

Gas output rose slightly in 2006, however and Wang said the company expects Daqing's combined oil and gas output to remain around an average 42 million tonnes for the five years to 2010.

They also aim to keep output at a average 40 million tonnes a year through 2020, he told Reuters on the sidelines of a Communist Party Congress in Beijing, though he declined to comment on how much investment would be needed to hit the target.