Crude oil output at China’s largest oi lfield Daqing has held steady in the first quarter this year versus a year ago despite heavy losses from low oil prices, the official Xinhua News Agency reported April 7.

Daqing, in the country’s northeast Heilongjiang province, churned out 9.28 million tonnes of crude oil in the first three months of the year, or about 744,400 barrels per day (bbl/d), according to the Xinhua report.

For the first two months of the year, the Daqing Field, operated by a unit of top Asian oil and gas firm PetroChina, lost more than 5 billion yuan ($772.58 million) because of low oil prices, the report said.

Global oil prices fell nearly 80% from a mid-2014 peak to their lowest in more than 12 years in January, and at around $40 a barrel now are still lower than the development cost of most Chinese oil fields.

The drop-off in value has forced Chinese oil and gas companies to slash capital spending on exploration, cut operational cost and trim production.

The Daqing Field, one of China’s oldest oil developments, has been producing for more than five decades and still has nearly one billion tonnes or 7.3 billion barrels of untapped proven reserves, the report said, citing a Daqing official.