PetroChina's Tarim eyes 20 pct more gas output in 08

BEIJING, Jan 17 (Reuters) - PetroChina's (0857.HK)(PTR.N) Tarim oilfield plans to raise its natural gas output by 3 billion cubic metres (bcm), or around 20 percent from a year earlier to 18.2 bcm in 2008, the China Petroleum Daily reported on Thursday.

It could however be difficult to reach the target after Tarim, China's largest gas producer by region, increased its production by 4.5 bcm last year, or up some 40 percent from 2006, Zhou Xinyuan, general manager of the oilfield was quoted as saying.

The oilfield, which also added 380,000 tonnes of crude oil output in 2007, contributed more than 40 percent of PetroChina's (601857.SS) total oil and gas gains last year, he said.

Zhou said Tarim planned to produce 6.45 million tonnes of crude in 2008, according to the newspaper, which is run by PetroChina's parent, China National Petroleum Corporation.

(Reporting by Jim Bai; editing by Anne Marie Roantree)