Chinese oil and gas giant Sinopec, or China Petroleum and Chemical Corp, announced on Thursday the addition of 83 billion cubic meters of newly-proven natural gas reserves at the Chuanxi gas field in the Sichuan basin, increasing the gas field's proven gas reserves to 114 billion cu m, which is equivalent to a large oil field.

The Chuanxi gas field, officially detected in 2018, is 138 square kilometers at the west edge of the basin, with the main gas reservoirs buried at a depth of about 6,000 meters.

Sinopec has been strengthening natural gas exploration since the start of the year. Its proven geological reserves of shale gas have accumulated to about 940.8 billion cu m.

In April, it started constructing the country's first deep-seated shale gas field in Southwest China's Sichuan province, which is expected to have annual production capacity of 3 billion cu m once fully completed.

In October, Sinopec announced there was about 192 billion cu m of certified new reserves at its Fuling shale gas field, with daily output above 20 million cu m.