CNOOC makes light crude discovery in Bohai Bay
Chinese oil explorer CNOOC Ltd (0883.HK: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) has made a sizeable light crude oil and gas discovery at its Jinzhou 25-1 field in Bohai Bay, off China’s northeastern coast, a government website said on Wednesday.
China’s State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) said CNOOC’s discovery, which was in the “100 million tonne class” was the biggest light oil and gas find in Bohai Bay, where 80 percent of the oil is heavy.
The discovery has the potential to boost the firm’s reserves at the field, previously put at 400 million barrels of oil equivalent.
CNOOC said in October that it had drilled five appraisal wells at Jinzhou 25-1 during the third quarter of the year, as well as two elsewhere, which were expected to be “an impressive enhancement of the reserve base and its commercial value”.
CNOOC, the smallest of China’s big three state-owned oil firms, concentrates on offshore exploration and production.
Last month, its parent company, the state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corporation, said that by the end of next decade it planned to invest 200 billion yuan ($29 billion) in deepwater exploration in another area, the South China Sea, via CNOOC Ltd and another subsidiary, China Oilfield Services Ltd (2883.HK: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz)(601808.SS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).
Tags: CNOOC, Oilfield