CHENGDU -- The shale gas base of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) in southwest China has consolidated its status as the country's biggest shale gas producer, with daily production exceeding 20 million cubic meters in part of a demonstration zone.

The Changning block of the Changning-Weiyuan national shale gas demonstration zone generated 20.26 million cubic meters of shale gas on Saturday.

The demonstration zone, established in January 2016, is a major part of CNPC's shale gas base in the southern part of Sichuan Province.

The figure helped lift the daily production of shale gas to more than 40 million cubic meters at the Sichuan base, and annual production is expected to reach 12 billion cubic meters, accounting for 60 percent of the country's total.

This year, the daily output of shale gas from the Changning block rose from 13 million cubic meters to more than 20 million, enough to meet the daily gas needs of up to 40 million homes, said She Chaoyi, deputy general manager of Sichuan Changning Natural Gas Development Co., Ltd., a shale gas developing company in charge of the Changning block and controlled by CNPC.

China produced 15.4 billion cubic meters of shale gas last year, up 41.4 percent year on year, mainly from the Sichuan basin and its surrounding areas, according to a report from the Ministry of Natural Resources.