China National Offshore Oil Corp., or CNOOC, has begun producing
oil at the smallest offshore oilfield China has discovered, company
sources said on Tuesday.
"The move shows that China has edged to the forefront of the
globe in cost-effective offshore oil exploration technology," said
Zhou Shouwei, deputy general manager of CNOOC.
It is widely considered that the smaller an oilfield is, the
more difficult it is to explore it. Industry experts believe that
if an offshore oilfield has a workable reserve of less than 3
million cubic meters, it is too costly to be explored.
Dubbed Bozhong 34-5, the small oilfield has a workable reserve
of only 1.8 million cubic meters, according to Zhou.
Founded in 1982, the CNOOC has built 51 oilfields and gas fields
and has been listed on the Hong Kong and New York stock
exchanges.
Last year, the CNOOC produced 40.33 million tons of oil
equivalent compared with 90,000 tons in 1982. Its annual sales
income reached 120.8 billion yuan (US$15.7 billion), as against 394
million yuan (US$51.2 million) 25 years ago.
CNOOC's output is expected to reach 100 million tons of oil
equivalent by 2010.
(Xinhua News Agency February 14, 2007)