China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), parent of PetroChina, said it has signed an agreement with Uzbekistan's state-owned Uzbekneftegaz to explore for oil there.
The exploration area, located on the north rim of the Fergana Basin, was discovered in 1992, and has reserves of over 30 mln tons, CNPC said.
Annual capacity of the field is expected to reach 2 mln tons, CNPC said.
China, the world's second largest energy consumer, has been seeking oil and gas resources overseas to meet rising domestic demand.
It has intensified energy cooperation with Central Asian countries, which are viewed as having favorable logistics and costs.
CNPC has started building the Central Gas Pipeline, designed to ship gas from Turkmenistan through Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan to western China.
The pipeline's gas transmission capacity is 30 bln cubic meters a year, with an option for increasing it to 40 bln cu m.
Author: Jo Amey
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CNPC and Uzbekneftegaz Sign Agreement
CNPC parent of PetroChina have signed an agreement with Uzbekneftegaz to explore for oil there
