Northwest China's strategically important Xinjiang region became the nation's top producer of natural gas last year, state media reported Monday. The region, which has a large Muslim population, produced 16.1 billion cubic metres (560 billion cubic feet) of natural gas in 2006, up 52 percent from the year before, the Xinhua news agency said, citing unnamed sources.
This put it ahead of the previous number one, Sichuan province in southwest China, which produced an estimated 12 billion cubic metres of natural gas last year, according to the agency.
The drastic growth in the region's gas output has been pushed mainly by the opening of a 4,000-kilometer (2,500-mile) pipeline connecting western China with 34 energy-hungry cities along China's east coast, according to Xinhua.
Xinjiang also has China's largest proven natural gas reserves, totalling 1.3 trillion cubic metres, while estimated reserves are as high as 10 trillion cubic metres, the agency said.
Xinjiang's emerging role as a natural gas producer is likely to add to the importance that Beijing attaches to the region, a geopolitically significant area because of its proximity to Central Asia.
Xinjiang's largest ethnic group, the Uighurs, who are predominantly Muslim and have a cultural identity distinct from other Chinese, accuse Beijing of political, religious and cultural repression in the name of counter-terrorism efforts.
They say the repression has significantly increased since the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
