As one of the three major gas fields of Qinghai Oilfield, located in the Qaidam Basin, the Tainan gas field boasts 35.9 square kilometers of area. It was first discovered in 1987. Its proven natural gas reserve reached 42.53 billion cubic meters in 2008, As a part of the Tarim Basin, the Tainan gasfield has a designed annual output capacity of 1.5 billion cubic meters.

Recently, It's reported a find of an additional 52.63 billion cubic meters of natural gas in Tainan gas field, bringing total reserves in the Qaidam area in Qinghai Province to 303.9 billion cubic meters.

Qaidam basin is estimated to have natural gas reserves of 2.5 trillion cubic meters, but only 12.1 percent of the natural gas is believed to have been found so far.