PetroChina Co, China's largest oil and gas producer, has discovered a huge gas deposit in southwest China's Sichuan Basin that's equivalent to two years of national consumption, according to its parent company.

The finding in the Moxi block in Anyue field was certified by the Ministry of Land and Resources to hold 440.4 billion cubic meters of proven geological reserves, of which 308.2 billion cubic meters are "technically recoverable," China National Petroleum Corp said in a newsletter yesterday.

The company, however, didn't give a timeframe and the development cost for the field. The new find will "provide abundant resources to the national gas pipeline network," it said.

PetroChina is building a facility capable of pumping 4 billion cubic meters of gas a year in the block where the new discovery is made, and another 6 billion cubic meters per year under the second phase. To date, 600 million cubic meters have been produced at the block.

China's natural gas consumption has been rising rapidly as it turns to the cleaner-burning fuel to cut pollution. Its gas consumption in 2013 rose 13.9 percent from a year earlier to 167.6 billion cubic meters, making China the world's third-largest gas consumer, said CNPC's earlier report. Over 30 percent was imported.