HARBIN, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- Daqing Oilfield, China's largest oil producer, wants to retain its prominence in the country's petroleum industry for another 50 years.

    Wang Yongchun, general manager of Daqing Oilfield Co. Ltd, said Tuesday the oilfield would remain an important energy base and continue to contribute a large proportion of China's energy supplies up to 2060.

    Wang said factors such as adequate underground fossil resources, scientific progress and well-trained personnel would help achieve this end.

    In accordance with the overall sustainable development plan for the oilfield, it will be capable of producing crude and gas equivalent to between 20 million tonnes and 25 million tonnes from its wells annually by 2060.

    This future output will be supplemented by extra crude and gas equivalent totaling between 15 million tonnes and 20 million tonnes from international trade and cooperative development.

    Discovered in 1959, development of Daqing Oilfield began in the next year. It has so far produced more than 2 billion tonnes of crude, accounting for 40 percent of the national total for the same period.

    The oilfield produced 40.2 million tonnes of crude oil and 2.76billion cubic meters of gas (equivalent to 2.76 million tonnes of oil) last year. The oilfield's accumulated proven oil reserves total 6.36 billion tonnes.

    An important subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corporation(CNPC), Daqing Oilfield Co. Ltd. is one of the world's rare large sandstone oilfields and consists of 52 separate oil and gas fields, with the oil-bearing area extending 6,000 sq km. The current oil recovery rate of major oilfields at Daqing exceeds 50 percent.

    In addition to oil and natural gas exploration and development, Daqing Oilfield Co. Ltd' s other businesses include engineering services and equipment manufacture. Its gross assets total 207.2 billion yuan (30.47 billion U.S. dollars).

    Fast expansion of the oilfield, which celebrated its 50th anniversary of discovery Tuesday, during past years led to the founding of a totally new city bearing the same name as the oilfield in Heilongjiang Province.

    Daqing Oilfield stabilized an annual crude output of greater than 50 million tonnes from 1976 to 2002, which was heralded as "a miracle" in the world history of oilfield development, said Wang.

    Along with other old oilfields, Daqing Oilfield has faced shrinking oil resources in recent years, and was forced to adjust its oil and gas production goal early last year by planning to stabilize its output of crude and gas equivalent at 40 million tonnes in years to come, said Wang.

    Wang is, however, upbeat about Daqing's oil resource potential. "Apart from the fossil reserves at its headquarters in Songliao Basin, western Heilongjiang, Daqing Oilfield has expanded its prospecting domain to other areas, including Hailar Basin in Inner Mongolia, and has been blessed with an additional 200 million tonnes in proven petroleum reserves in the basin alone since 2002.

    "I hope that Daqing Oilfield Co. Ltd will have an extra 80 million to 100 million tonnes added to its proven petroleum reserve total annually before 2060," said Wang. "That is the most important resource foundation for Daqing to realize a sustainable development."

    Sun Zhi, chief of the technological development department of Daqing Oilfield Co. Ltd, echoed Wang's opinion and emphasized the role of scientific progress.

    "In the next 50 years, Daqing Oilfield will largely rely on scientific achievements to realize pre-set targets for sustainable development," he said. "I believe triple oil extraction technology based on polymers and microbe-based oil extraction technology which is still being researched will help raise the current oil recovery rate to 60 percent," said Sun.

    Given Daqing Oilfield's proven oil reserves, the increase of a percentage point in recovery rate will mean an additional output of 50 million to 60 million tonnes of crude, said Sun.

    "Alongside improved oil recovery rate, it is also imperative for us to speed up the tapping of deep reserves of natural gas and other non-conventional gases such as methane in order to meet the pre-set target for sustainable development," said Sun.

    A meeting was held in Daqing city Tuesday in commemorating the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the oilfield. While addressing the meeting, Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping called for increased efforts to tap China's oil resources to meet rising energy demands.

    He said the spirit of patriotism and dedication, which had nourished the development of Daqing oilfield in the past five decades, must be followed in the oil production sector generally.