State energy company PetroChina brought the last two processing facilities online at a giant natural gas field in southwestern China, taking output capacity up to a planned 11 billion cubic meters (Bcm) a year, parent company China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) said.

The Moxi block of Anyue Field in Sichuan province was in early 2014 certified to hold 440 Bcm of proven geological reserves, one of the country’s largest finds.

PetroChina on Oct. 20 switched on two new gas processing plants at Moxi, CNPC said in its in-house newspaper China Petroleum Daily, although actual output from the field is not likely to be ramped up to the full capacity anytime soon.

A senior investor relation official with PetroChina told Reuters on Friday that Moxi will be pumping at an annual rate of 9 Bcm when in full operation, but he could not say when that would be or give the current daily output.

Industry experts said last month that state energy firms Sinopec Corp and PetroChina were capping production at large conventional fields—including at Moxi—as demand growth for natural gas eases to a multi-year low.

Production from the Moxi block would represent some 9 percent of China's total natural gas output if its facilities were run at full capacity.

The Moxi block first came online in 2012, and according to the CNPC report, its development included a 1 Bcm a year test period and production phases of 4 Bcm a year and 6 Bcm a year.