China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) said it plans to raise its natural gas output to between 79.3 billion and 82.1 billion cubic metres this year.

That would amount to at least 5% more than the 75.5 Bcm of gas CNPC produced in 2011, Reuters reported.

The state-owned company will aim to improve its technological capability in developing coalbed methane and shale gas and push forward gas storage construction a vice president of PetroChina, Zhao Zhengzhang, was quoted as saying by China Petroleum Daily on Tuesday.

PetroChina operates all of CNPC’s oil and gas assets.

CNPC produced 2.15 million barrels per day of oil last year, up 2% from a year earlier.

Rival Sinopec produced 1.31 million bpd of oil and 14.6 Bcm of gas in 2011 from domestic and overseas fields, up 7.6% and 16.8%, respectively, from a year earlier, chairman Fu Chengyu said earlier this month.