CNOOC Has Put Onstream Six Projects in South China Sea This Year

CNOOC Ltd. has begun production at the Huizhou 26-6 Oilfield Development Project in the Pearl River Mouth Basin, the state-backed company’s sixth startup in the South China Sea in 2024.

The oil and gas project, CNOOC’s “first deep buried hill reservoir development project in the South China Sea”, is expected to reach about 20,600 barrels of oil equivalent a day (boed) in peak production in 2027, said a company statement. The project, which has an average water depth of around 110 meters (360.89 feet), mainly produces light crude and natural gas, according to CNOOC Ltd.

The sole owner plans to commission 19 wells consisting of 17 for gas production and two for petroleum production. “The main production facilities include a new intelligent drilling production platform, as well as the adaptively-modified ‘NAN HAI FEN JIN’ FPSO [floating production, storage and offloading unit]”, CNOOC Ltd. said.

“The Company has been actively adopting the state-of-art technologies”, it added. “The first intelligent offshore drilling production platform in China was built for this project to realize efficient development of the offshore oil and gas resources”.

“The new project will contribute to the economic and social development of the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area”, said CNOOC Ltd., majority-owned by China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC).

CNOOC Ltd. has achieved nearly a dozen upstream startups this year, mostly at home in the South China Sea. Before Huizhou 26-6, it has put online the Liuhua 11-1/4-1 Oilfield Secondary Development Project, the Shenhai-1 Phase II Natural Gas Development Project, the Wushi 17-2 Oilfields Development Project, the Wushi 23-5 Oilfields Development Project and the Xijiang 30-2 Oilfield Xijiang 30-1 Block Development Project.

Besides the six South China Sea projects, three were fired up in the Bohai area of the Yellow Sea. The new production assets here are the Bozhong 19-2 Oilfield Development Project, the Bozhong 19-6 Gas Field 13-2 Block 5 Well Site Development Project and the Suizhong 36-1/Luda 5-2 Oilfield Secondary Adjustment and Development Project.

Amid the flurry of startups CNOOC Ltd.’s domestic output in the first nine months rose 6.6 percent year-on-year to 369.2 million boe (MMboe), driven by Bozhong 19-6 and Enping 20-4, according to the company’s quarterly report published October 28.

Overseas, CNOOC Ltd. unlocked new production in Brazil and Canada this year.

On November 6 CNOOC Ltd. announced production had started at the Long Lake Northwest Project in the Canadian province of Alberta. The company expects the project to achieve a peak production of 8,200 bpd next year.

“It will be developed with steam-assisted gravity drainage operation and 8 well pairs are planned to be commissioned”, CNOOC Ltd. said in a press release.

CNOOC Petroleum North America ULC, a wholly owned subsidiary of CNOOC Ltd., operates the project with a 100 percent stake.

On October 31 CNOOC Ltd. and its partners said production had started in the third phase of the Mero oilfield in the Santos Basin offshore Brazil. Mero3 has a production capacity of 180,000 bpd, which will raise the field’s installed capacity to 590,000 bpd.

CNOOC Ltd., through CNOOC Petroleum Brasil Ltda., owns a 9.65 percent stake. Operator Petróleo Brasileiro SA holds 38.6 percent, TotalEnergies SE 19.3 percent, Shell PLC 19.3 percent, China National Petroleum Corp. 9.65 percent and Pré-Sal Petróleo SA 3.5 percent.

CNOOC Ltd.’s overseas production in the first three quarters of 2024 increased 12.2 percent year-over-year to 172.9 MMboe, driven by the Payara oilfield in Guyana’s Stabroek block.

Total production grew 8.5 percent to 542.1 MMboe, setting a company record for the January–September period.

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