The Daqing oil field Photo: VCG

China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), China's leading oil and gas producer, said its oil and gas output hit new records in 2022, as the company contributed to a national energy security drive by tapping domestic resources in a year marked by geopolitical upheavals. 

In a statement posted on CNPC's website on Monday, the company said its crude production reached 105 million tons in 2022.

Due to efforts to drive production, CNPC's natural gas output, reaching 145.3 billion cubic meters, has risen to account for 52.4 percent of the company's total production measured by oil and gas equivalent.  

Shale oil and gas production in 2022 was 2.9 times and 2.3 times that of 2018, respectively, the statement said. 

The company said its oil and gas production grew at the fastest pace in 2022 since the 13th Five-Year Period (2016-20), noting the annual performance contributes to the security of China's energy "rice bowl."

As the company implemented measures to ramp up and stabilize its oil and gas output, its Daqing oil field in Northeast China's Heilongjiang Province churned out 30 million tons of oil for the eighth consecutive year.

Its oil fields in Northwest China's Xinjiang region saw annual production of 14.42 million tons. For natural gas, the gas field in the Tarim Basin in Xinjiang, as well as Northwest China's Changqing oil field all recorded growth.

At end-July, the National Energy Administration said that the global economic situation and external impacts would remain complex for the second half of the year, and it urged energy firms to shoulder the responsibility of keeping supplies and prices stable. 

Separately, China's another oil giant CNOOC announced on Monday that the main production block of its Kenli 6-1 offshore oil field was put into operation.

Kenli 6-1 is a major offshore oil field in the Bohai Sea with proven reserves totaling 100 million tons, CNOOC said in a press release sent to the Global Times. The added output could result in peak daily crude output of 5,500 tons by 2024.

Coal production also hit new high, reaching 4.09 billion tons for the first 11 months of the year, up 9.7 percent year-on-year, the National Energy Administration said on December 16.

Global Times