China National Star Petroleum Corporation (CNSPC) reported that its 1999 taxes and profits hit 476 million yuan (about 57.3 million US dollars), up 47.8 percent from the 1998 figure. The company's turnover grew by 18 percent to 6.2 billion yuan.

CNSPC President Zhu Jiazhen said the company's newly-added oil and gas reserves hit 164 million tons during the year, or 134.18 percent more than the State target. The company's just-added proven reserves reached 93.21 million tons.

By the end of 1999, CNSPC owned a cumulative proven reserve total of 330 million tons, doubling the 1996 figure, when the company was set up, combining the marine geology branches of the former Ministry of Geology and Mineral Resources.

The company's biggest exploration breakthrough in 1999 was its strike of the first commercial oil flow in Lunpola basin in the northern part of the Tibet Autonomous Region.

According to CNSPC, the successful trial oil recovery marked an end to Tibet's history of no crude oil production. An oilfield with a geological oil reserve of more than 10 million tons is expected to be built.

In addition, the company's exploration efforts have also yielded encouraging results in northern Tarim basin, Sichuan basinand the southern part of Songliao basin.

Zhu said the company continued to use state-of-the-art technology to fight against the natural decline in crude production in 1999. For the whole year, the company produced 2.96 million tons equivalent of crude oil and gas, up 58 percent over 1998.