China expects to find 100 million tons of oil equivalents (TOE) in the northwestern Qaidam Basin this year, with a 700-million-yuan (100.76 million U.S. dollars) investment in exploration.

   The Qinghai Oilfield Company of Petrochina found 60 million tons last year in the basin at a cost of 700 million yuan, said Liu  Yuntian, manager of the company's exploration department.

   More oil and gas could be found this year, even though the investment would be about the same, because of improvements in technology, said Liu.

   Petrochina started a research program to crack technological barriers to exploiting oil in the Qaidam Basin last June, with a budget of 240 million yuan.

   The Qinghai oilfield, located in the Qaidam Basin, is the world's highest-altitude oil and natural gas field at an average elevation of 3,000 meters.

   The high altitude and complex geologic conditions pose major barriers to exploration.

   The field produced 4.75 million TOE last year.

   The estimated oil and natural gas reserves in the Qaidam Basin stood at 4.65 billion TOE, but only 15.6 percent of the oil and 12.1 percent of the natural gas is believed to have been found so far.