Cnooc Aims to Double Output from Bohai Field Soon After 2010

|
Dow Jones Newswires

BEIJING Nov 8, 2007 (Dow Jones Newswires)

Cnooc Ltd. (CEO), China's largest offshore oil and gas producer, aims to double oil and gas output from its largest field shortly after 2010 due to continuous discoveries of rich reserves, its parent company said Friday.

Output from the Bohai field, located in northern China's Bohai Bay, will likely reach 30 million cubic meters of oil equivalent after 2010, compared with 15.6 million cubic meters in 2006, China National Offshore Oil Corp. said on its Web site.

Cnooc this year discovered geological oil and gas reserves of 220 million cubic meters of oil equivalent in Bohai Bay, stable compared with its finds of 200 million cubic meters of oil and 1.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas reserves in 2005. The company didn't provide a comparable figure for 2006.

The statement said Cnooc expects to continue discovering reserves of 150 million to 200 million cubic meters of oil equivalent each year through 2010.

Cnooc will mainly rely on its own exploration capacity to reach the target. Its exploration technology is maturing following the discovery of rich oil blocks in the region, including Jinzhou 25-1, Bozhong 26-3, Bozhong 28-2 and Kenli 20-1 so far this year.

If the target is reached, Cnooc expects Bohai to become China's second largest oil field, up from the third largest.

The Shengli field in eastern China, operated by China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (SNP), or Sinopec, is currently the country's second largest, with annual output of 27.4 million tons of crude.

The Daqing field in northeastern China, run by PetroChina Co. (PTR), is the country's largest, with annual crude output of 43.4 million tons.

PetroChina's Nanpu find announced earlier this year is also located in Bohai Bay. It is China's largest oil find in more than 30 years, according to officials at PetroChina, China's number one oil company by output.

Copyright (c) 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.


Most Popular Articles