Daqing, China's largest oil field, has boosted its output target to extract 40 million tonnes annually in the coming decade at the demand of the central government, senior officials of the field told Xinhua news agency.
The mayor of Daqing City in 2004 said that the field would reduce output year by year to 32 million tonnes by 2010. But Daqing later adjusted the production plan to produce 35.5 million tonnes in 2010.
The field produced 41.7 million tonnes of oil in 2007, slightly above the goal of 41.62 million tonnes.
Industry observers said China's imports of increasing amounts of oil at soaring prices was the reason for Daqing's latest change in output target.
Last year, China produced 186.7 million tonnes of oil and imported 159.3 million tonnes.
Wang Yupu, Daqing's general manager, said the oil field was confident of producing 40 million tonnes annually. The field has produced more than 1.9 billion tonnes since 1959.
Wu Heyong, chief geologist of the exploration institute at Daqing, said new technologies would be used to explore fields previously regarded as "depleted."