URUMQI, April 2 -- The oil and gas output of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region reached 50 million tonnes of oil equivalent in 2014, the highest in 60 years, the regional statistical bureau announced on Thursday.

Xinjiang produced 27 million tonnes of crude oil, and 29.6 billion cubic meters of natural gas last year.

The total oil and gas output from Xinjiang's Tarim, Junggar and Tuha oilfields has caught up with the country's largest oilfield of Daqing in the northeast Heilongjiang Province, whose annual output had been maintained above 50 million tonnes of crude oil for 27 consecutive years.

Xinjiang has huge potential in oil and gas exploration and production. Resource assessment shows the region has 22.8 billion tonnes of oil and 14 trillion cubic meters of natural gas.