Snow hits output at PetroChina's Liaohe oilfield

BEIJING, Mar 7 (Reuters) A severe snowstorm cut power lines and has caused more than 1,000 oil wells to remain shut since Sunday at northeast China's Liaohe oilfield, operator PetroChina's parent company said on Wednesday.

PetroChina has lost 5,257 tonnes of crude output a day, after the heaviest snowstorm in more than five decades hit northeast China from early on Sunday, China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) said on its Web Site www.cnpc.com.cn.

A small part of the lost production was recovered on Monday morning, the report said.

Liaohe is oil and gas company PetroChina's second largest oilfield after Daqing. A company source said late last year that the field's crude output was likely to slip below 12 million tonnes (88 million barrels) in 2007.

Most of Liaohe's output is heavy oil and is used to feed several refineries including Jinzhou, Jinxi and Fushun, all in Liaoning province.

REUTERS SBA PM1933