Xinjiang to be at the heart of reforms of major State-owned energy firms

The resource-rich Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region in western China will become the center of State-owned energy companies' reform this year with the launch of a pilot project by the country's biggest oil and gas producer in the area.

China National Petroleum Corporation will make available a 49 percent stake in its oilfields in Xinjiang to other investors, including private companies, said Xie Wenyan, general manager of Tarim Oilfield Company of PetroChina Co, the listed arm of CNPC.

He said that Tarim Oilfield Co has achieved an initial agreement with Xinjiang Energy Co and Aksu prefecture government to co-develop the Tarim oilfield.