CNOOC announces new oil and gas find

SHANGHAI: China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC), one of the country’s top three oil and gas producers, says its newly discovered Bozhong 13-2 oil and gas field in the Bohai Sea contains proven geological reserves of 100 million tonnes of oil and gas equivalent, making it one of biggest crude oil production bases in the country.

The new field is expected to play a pivotal role in helping the company produce 40 million tonnes of crude from the Bohai oilfield during the 14th Five-year Plan period (202125), according to Zhou Xinhuai, general manager of the oil exploration department at CNOOC.

Zhou said the Bohai oilfield is likely to start production in 2023 and achieve a peak output of 1.2 million tonnes of oil equivalent.

According to industry experts, the Bohai Sea natural gas and oil finds will boost CNOOC’S annual output to above 80 million tonnes of oil equivalent by 2025.

Cao Xinjian, Party secretary and general manager of CNOOC Tianjin, said the company is beefing up efforts to produce 30 million tonnes of crude oil and three billion cubic meters of natural gas this year. During the first quarter, the company will start three major projects including large and medium-sized oilfield development and stabilise the oil output volume.

The new find is located 140km off the coast of Tianjin at an average water depth of 23.2m, Zhou said. The Bozhong 13-2-2 well, where the reserve was discovered, was drilled and completed at a depth of 5,223m, and encountered oil pay zones with a total thickness of 346m.

The well was tested to produce an average of 1,980 barrels of crude oil per day. The company expects daily crude oil and natural gas generation from the well to reach 300 tonnes and 150,000 cubic m at a later date, said Zhou.

In 2019, the company said its Bohai Sea finds contain 100 billion cubic m of proven geological reserves of natural gas. It said the increased capacity from the new finds will help meet the surging demand for natural gas in northern and eastern China and reduce the country’s reliance on costly imports.

Last year, China’s natural gas production reached 188.8 billion cubic m, up 9.8% on a yearly basis, according to data provided by the National Bureau of Statistics.