TIANJIN, March 18 (Xinhua) -- A natural gas processing terminal project, the largest of its kind constructed by the Bohai Oilfield, China's largest offshore crude oil producer, has officially started supplying gas to surrounding areas, according to the Tianjin branch of China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) on Monday.

The project in the city of Binzhou, east China's Shandong Province, is an important onshore terminal supporting project for the Bozhong 19-6 Condensate Gas Field, the first gas field with proven reserves of over 100 billion cubic meters of natural gas in the Bohai Sea. The project is expected to process up to 1.3 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually.

"The gas field will provide a more stable and reliable supply of clean energy to the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and the Bohai Rim region, which is of great significance to ensuring national energy security and optimizing the energy structure," said Jiang An, general manager of a subsidiary of CNOOC's Tianjin branch.