One of China's largest oilfields in Xinjiang plans to upgrade its information technology to build a "smart field," another move to boost the west regions' economy, sinopecnews.com reported Monday.

"The Karamay Oilfield will upgrade from a digital oil field to a smart field in five years in order to realize the field's high and stable output," the website quoted Chen Xinfa, manager of Karamay Oilfield as saying.

A digital oilfield includes information gathering, exchanging and delivering to support business decisions using advanced technology. A "smart field" is an upgrade that will be capable of information management and workflow control.

The oilfield is under management of PetroChina, Asia's largest oil and gas company.

Last month, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), parent company of PetroChina, announced plans to increase natural gas production from Karamay to 5 billion cubic meters next year. The company plans to keep crude oil output from the field stable above 10 million metric tons or 200,822 barrels a day in 2011.

Natural gas production from Karamay will double to 10 billion cubic meters per year in 2015, while crude oil production will rise to 16 million tons a year then, CNPC said.

In March, policies were introduced aimed at boosting the economy and social stability.