China's leading petroleum and petrochemical producer Sinopec has explored 92.1 billion cubic meters of natural gas reserves in southwest China's Sichuan Province, the company said Wednesday.

The newly verified reserves are expected to produce 2 billion cubic meters of natural gas every year, an equivalent of the annual gas consumption for 10 million households.

A total of 40.8 billion cubic meters of new gas reserves have been proved in the Yuanba gasfield in the province, which is China's deepest gasfield in the marine strata.

Sinopec will further explore gas resources and submit 20 billion cubic meters of gas reserves this year.

The company has so far proved 1.2 trillion cubic meters of reserves with an annual production capacity of 12 billion in the gas-rich Sichuan Basin, which accounts for nearly one-fifth of China's total.