The discovery of a natural gas field at the Bozhong 19-6 discovery well in the Bohai oilfield contains proved geological reserves of up to hundreds of billions of cubic meters, according to the oil and gas reserves assessment office under the Ministry of Natural Resources.

The discovery of the large gas field in China's eastern region will likely meet the demand for gas in eastern China, said China National Offshore Oil Corp, a leading domestic oil and gas producer.

Discovery well Bozhong 19-6, which includes 10 wells with an average depth exceeding 4,000 meters, will see further evaluation of its gas reservoirs and proceed to the utilization stage when all tests are completed, China National Offshore Oil said earlier.

The discovery of the gas field is the largest in size in the Bohai Bay Basin, said Yang Hua, chairman of the company.

"The company will continuously step up exploration for more discoveries of oil and gas wells to further ensure national security and a stable gas supply in the country," Yang said.

Most of the proven reserves in the Bohai Bay Basin have been crude oil rather than gas in the past few decades, while the gas field discovery will play a significant role in easing the gas shortage of the Beijing-Hebei-Tianjin region in northern China.