URUMQI, Dec. 21 (Xinhua) -- The Tarim Oilfield of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), China's leading oil and gas producer, on Monday saw its 2020 output surpass 30 million tonnes of oil equivalent.

Located in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Tarim Basin is a major petroliferous basin in China and one of the most difficult to explore due to its harsh ground environment and complicated underground conditions.

Yang Xuewen, general manager of CNPC's Tarim oilfield company, said that in the past 31 years, the company developed and built 32 oil and gas fields, with the total output exceeding 400 million tonnes of oil equivalent.

In addition to sending the gas through the country's West-to-East gas pipelines, the oilfield provides more than 4 billion cubic meters of natural gas to the surrounding areas in southern Xinjiang every year, benefiting more than 4.3 million local people, Yang said.

According to the company's development plan, the Tarim Oilfield is expected to further lift its output to 40 million tonnes of oil equivalent by 2025 and 50 million tonnes by 2035.