China National Offshore Oil Corp, the Chinese energy major with international and domestic LNG interests, said the first ultra-deep natural gas well in the Bohai Sea offshore northeast China had out-performed initial estimates amid ambitious domestic gas production plans.
CNOOC said that the Bozhong 19-6 natural gas and condensate field D1 Well, the first ultra-deep well in the Bohai Sea, achieved a higher than expected level of production.
The Bozhong 19-6 gas field is located in the central Bohai Sea with an average water depth of about 20 metres.
CNOOC said it contained proven oil and gas in place of more than 200 billion cubic metres of natural gas and more than 200 million cubic metres of oil.
Buried hill plays
It is the first gas field of such a size in the deep buried hill play in offshore China.
China's natural gas strategy to fuel the economy and reduce carbon emissions comprises developing more domestic gas plays and importing more LNG from global sources as well as pipeline gas from Russia.
“The high-yield well further confirms the promising potential of offshore deep buried hill plays,” explained Sun Fujie, CNOOC’s Executive Vice President.
“The exploration and development of oil and gas resources in the deep plays is expected to accelerate,” Sun stated.
“Thereby, the company's ability to supply clean energy to the Bohai Economic Rim will be bolstered,” he added in reference to the area from the northeast coast to Beijing inland.
CNOOC said it had adopted an “overall planning, phased implementation and pilot first” development strategy.
In 2020, 2023 and 2024, the company has gradually brought on-stream Bozhong 19-6 condensate gas field, the pilot area development project, the Phase I development project and the 13-2 Block 5 well site project.
The gas field is currently producing around 37,500 barrels of oil equivalent per day.
The Bozhong 19-6 Condensate Gas Field D1 Well was drilled to a depth of 6,088 metres.
“It is the first ultra-deep well operated by CNOOC in the Bohai Sea and which produces about 6,300 barrels of oil equivalent per day,” said CNOOC.
South China Sea
CNOOC had also announced a “major exploration breakthrough” in June 2024 with a natural gas play in ultra-deep waters of the South China Sea.
The Lingshui 36-1 gas field is located in the western South China Sea with an average water depth of around 1,500 metres.
The main gas-bearing play is the Ledong formation with an average burial depth of 210 metres.
CNOOC said the field has been tested to produce over 10 million cubic metres per day of open flow natural gas.
“The exploration in ultra-deep water ultra-shallow gas plays in the South China Sea is faced with world-class engineering and technical challenges,” the company noted
CNOOC Chief Executive and President Zhou Xinhuai said at the time that the successful testing of Lingshui 36-1 was a breakthrough for exploration in such plays.
The company said it would continue to tackle the challenges on the exploration and development of the resources in such plays, to expedite the utilisation of natural gas in deep waters.
CNOOC re-iterated its ambition to further expand the resource base for the development of a trillion-cubic-metres gas region in the South China Sea. (July 12, 2024)
CHINA - Natural Gas - Production