PetroChina’s Tarim Oilfield unit was supplied 1.82 billion cubic metres of gas for heating to five cities in the south of Xinjiang province over the past five months.

Supply rose by 15.3% from the previous year, with 51,000 new households added.

PetroChina has spent RMB 6.4 billion ($1.02 billion) on the south Xinjiang gasification project – a pipeline network comprising four trunk lines and 19 branch lines.

The network went online in October 2013 and supplied 3.6 bcm in 2014.