A well in a newly discovered natural gas field in southwest Sichuan Province underwent ignition testing on Friday. The gas field has proven reserves of 440 billion cubic meters and is one of the largest ever discovered in China.

The new reserves are in Sichuan Province's Anyue County. The well tested Friday has a depth of about 5,400 meters and a daily output of about 1.1 million cubic meters of gas. That's enough energy to meet the every-day demand of about 600,000 households of three people.

"This gas field is highlighted with big reserves, big areas, big output and high gas reservoir pressure. We plan to raise its annual output to 11 billion cubic meters by the end of 2015," said Li Luguang from PetroChina Southwest Oil and Gas Company.

It's estimated that the gas exploration could contribute over 2 trillion yuan to the local GDP, and cut pollution by 680 million tons. As a clean energy, natural gas could effectively reduce pollution and protect the environment.

However, it now accounts for only 5-6 percent of China's primary energy consumption. That's much lower than world's average of nearly 24 percent. In comparison, high-polluting coal takes up more than 60 percent of China's energy.

"Natural gas usage should be developed in order to upgrade China's energy structure. The consumption of coal must be reduced further, with natural gas being the preferred alternative," said Gao Shixian, a researcher at the Energy Research Institute of National Development and Reform Commission.

China should have a natural gas supply of more than 260 billion cubic meters by 2015 under the government plan, taking up 8 percent of the country's energy consumption.