URUMQI, Dec. 21 (Xinhua) -- The Tarim oil field in northwest China's Xinjiang is expected to produce 15.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas this year, up 40 percent year-on-year, company sources said.

    The field had produced 15 billion cubic m of gas as of Dec. 20, according to Tarim Oilfields Co. Ltd, a subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corporation, the country's leading oil company. The field produced 11 billion cubic m of gas in 2006.

    The Tarim field had injected 12 billion cubic m of gas into China's 4,200-kilometer east-west gas pipeline by Nov. 19, the company said.

    The company also said that it would supply 13.7 billion cubic mof gas to the pipeline for the full year, compared with 9.8 billion cubic m last year.

    CNPC Tarim Oilfields is a key participant in the pipeline, which begins in Lunnan, southern Xinjiang, and ends in Baihe Town in east China's Shanghai, with a designed annual capacity of 12 billion cubic m.

    It supplies gas to about 200 million residents in various eastern and northern provinces or regions.

    Situated in southern Xinjiang, the 560,000 square-kilometer Tarim Basin has proven reserves of 526 million tons of oil and 724 billion cubic m of gas.