SHENZHEN -- The Shenzhen branch of China National Offshore Oil Corporation, China's largest offshore oil and gas producer, announced Friday that the annual oil-and-gas output of its oilfield in the eastern part of the South China Sea had exceeded 20 million tons of oil equivalent in 2022 -- the first time it has done so.

The figure is an increase of more than 2.2 million tons compared to 2021, said the company.

Since 1990, this oilfield in the eastern part of the South China Sea has produced a total of more than 300 million tons of crude oil and 56 billion cubic meters of natural gas.

The field has seen an output increase of more than 5.4 million tons of crude oil since 2019 -- accounting for one-third of the country's total during this period. Its annual production volume of natural gas exceeded 6 billion cubic meters over the past four years. This oilfield provided about a quarter of the annual natural gas consumption in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Located in the Pearl River estuary basin, the field boasts seven major oil-and-gas production areas, with 50 oil-and-gas fields and 41 production facilities. It is the biggest crude oil production base in the South of China, and has the largest deepwater oil-and-gas field cluster in the country.