China has discovered an oilfield capable of producing 1 million tons of oil annually in the Junggar Basin in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in northwest China, industrial sources said.

By the end of October, 10 exploratory wells had pumped oil and another 20 wells are being drilled, said officials from the Xinjiang Oilfield Corporation.

The corporation discovered the oilfield in a 5,000-square-kilometer oil pool in the heart of the Junggar Basin.

Geologists found an oilfield with an annual capacity of 1 million tons in the early 1990s, but have not made any significant discoveries there since then.

This year, the company sank an exploratory well in the Sangequan area and the well gushed industrial oil in July. In the following three months, more than 2,000 oil experts made further explorations in the surrounding areas of the well.

Wang Yilin, president of the corporation, said that the oilfield is verified with 70 million tons of oil in geological reserves. Massive production of oil will start next year.

(Xinhua 11/07/2000)