China's top offshore oil and natural gas producer CNOOC plans to invest over US$80 million on gas wells to increase production in its field in Hainan Province in order to continue supplying Hong Kong after 2015.

"To maintain our production capacity at 3.5 billon cubic metres at Yacheng, we will drill four more gas wells at Yacheng 13-1 after 2009 ... investment on each well will be around US$20 to 30 million," said Liu Zhijie, general manager of CNOOC Yacheng Operating Company (Yacheng).

Yacheng 13-1 has 11 gas wells in operation now.

Whether or not CNOOC will continue to have a contract to supply Hong Kong, however, is up to China Light and Power (CLP), Liu admitted.

Fifty-one percent owned by CNOOC, Yacheng was authorized to deliver natural gas to CLP's Black Point Power Station from January 1, 1996 to December 31, 2015.

The two-decade-long contract, which allowed CLP to open the first environmentally friendly gas-fired power station in Hong Kong, has to be renewed no later than December 31, 2010, five years ahead of the expiry date.

But CLP has been exploring options to switch to liquefied natural gas, or LNG.

"We cannot rule out that possibility ... but we expect to continue to co-operate with CLP," Liu said. "Compared with LNG, our price is much cheaper while quality is still stable and good."

Enlighten Securities and Futures Ltd Executive and Vice President Rick Cheung said the news from CNOOC will benefit CLP, because it cuts down on operating costs and will dismiss market uncertainty. "It locks up the supply to withstand the fluctuation of energy prices," Cheung said.

CLP, however, is sceptical of CNOOC's ability to keep up with demand.

In an exclusive statement to China Daily on Wednesday, CLP said: "Based on an independent assessment conducted in 2002, it is clear to CAPCO (jointly owned by ExxonMobil Energy Limited and CLP) that Yacheng gas reserve will not meet CAPCO's increasing level of gas requirements beyond early next decade."

"We are thus surprised and disagree with the recent reports quoting comments made by CNOOC/BP about Yacheng gas levels and future availability," CLP said.

CLP clarified that over the past two years, it has "thoroughly evaluated options for replacing the Yacheng gas supply" and has concluded "a Hong Kong LNG terminal is the only viable means of meeting CAPCO's large volume in the time frame and with the high degree of certainty required."

Yacheng is running China's largest offshore gas field Yacheng 13-1 in Sanya, the most southern city in China's Hainan Province. With a production capacity reaching 3.5 billion cubic metres, Yacheng 13-1 now pumps as many as 3 billion cubic metres of natural gas per year.

"Around 2.5 of the 3 billion cubic metres is for Hong Kong, while the remaining 500 million goes to local customers in Hainan," Liu said.

One third of CLP's total electricity or one fourth of Hong Kong's total is now generated by natural gas transported from Yacheng 13-1. Yacheng has provided to Hong Kong a total of 25 billion cubic metres of natural gas from 1996 to 2006.

"We have gained about US$2 billion so far through our contract with CLP," Liu told China Daily.

Liu said that CNOOC was seeking to generate more natural gas in the near future.

"Our Dongfang Gas Field, the country's second largest in offshore areas, will pump 2.1 billion cubic metres of natural gas by the end of this year," Liu said. "By the end of 2007 its production volume will amount to 2.6 billion cubic metres."

He also said the firm's construction of Ledong Gas Field, the largest in the South China Sea, will be finished by 2008 with production capacity expected to reach 2 billion cubic metres per year.

Compared with its natural gas arm's robust performance, CNOOC's oil arm has been suffering, especially with the shut down of the company's Liuhua oil field.

"From May to now Liuhua has lost more than 4 million barrels of oil, which has indeed exerted certain pressure on us to achieve our present goal of 168 to 171 million BOE (barrels of oil equivalent) by the end of the year," said a CNOOC senior manager on condition of anonymity.

Due to the negative impact brought about by recent typhoons, many of CNOOC's oil fields have been forced to cease production.

Analysts believe CNOOC's overall performance will still be "good" in 2006.

"With oil prices to stabilize at between US$60 and US$70, earnings growth of the company should be maintained," said Xiao Hui, an analyst with United Securities (Shenzhen).

"Given that the oil price has not fallen significantly so far, CNOOC's momentum to grow will continue ... we expect its 2006 revenue to rise by about 26 percent from the previous year," said Andes Cheng, associate director of South China Research.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, CNOOC signed two production sharing contracts with Devon Energy Corporation for deepwater oil exploration.

(China Daily December 15, 2006)