09-11-03 Burlington Resources, one of the largest petroleum and gas developer in North America, will launch a full scale cooperation project with PetroChina, the leading state-run oil producer, in 2004.
John Morgan, vice president of Burlington, said in its fist-phase expansion plan his company will invest 150 to $ 200 mm to develop gas resources in central Sichuan, a gas-rich province in southwest China. He expected the company's annual capacity in the province will reach 400 mm to 500 mm cm in next few years.

A substitute for Enron, former US-based energy giant which signed the cooperation deal with the southwest branch company of PetroChina in Aug. 1997, Burlington Resources took over the deal and became PetroChina's new partner in the summer of 2001 after Enron scandals were exposed.
Burlington, founded in 1864, now with total assets of $ 10 bn, entered the China market in 2000 through joint gas and oil development programs in the South China Sea. It has already drilled three gas wells in central Sichuan since the company commenced its cooperation with PetroChina's southwest branch company.

Morgan said the company will add an additional $ 50 mm in 2004 to increase the well's gas production from the current 200,000 cm to 1 mm cm.
According to Morgan, Burlington will expand its cooperation with PetroChina in central Sichuan and other parts of the province to lift annual output to 1.5 bn cm, with total investment adding up to 500 to $ 800 mm.