A national-level demonstration zone for continental shale oil was unveiled Saturday in Daqing, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, which aims to produce over one million tonnes of oil annually by 2025.

Covering 2,778 square km in the Songliao Basin and with designed horizontal well locations reaching 500, the zone will be the first of its kind in China with a target yearly output of over one million tonnes, according to Daqing Oilfield, a subordinate of the China National Petroleum Corporation.

The zone marks a new stage of shale oil exploration in Daqing Oilfield. The discovery of a major shale oilfield with predicted geological reserves of about 1.27 billion tonnes was announced on Wednesday.

Discovered in 1959, Daqing Oilfield has made significant contributions to China's modern petroleum industry.