The Bohai Oilfield is expected to become a super-sized oil production base in the eastern part of China with a steady growth of oil output.

Oil experts here believe that the maximum production capacity of the Bohai Oilfield could reach 35 million tons annually, if its potential is fully tapped.

"China will build 1,100 wells and some other oil production facilities in the coming five years, with a total investment of over 50 billion yuan (6 billion U.S. dollars)," said Zhu Mingcai, general manager of the Tianjin Branch of China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC).

"Oil companies at home and abroad have discovered seven major oilfields in the Bohai Sea during the past year", said Zhu, "The proved oil reserves of Bohai Oilfield have exceeded 3 billion tons and experts predicted its total reserves could reach 4.5 billion tons."

Daqing, China's top oilfield, has over 5 billion tons of proven oil reserves and has produced a total of 1.6 billion tons of oil since it was discovered in 1959.

Geologists here attributed the increase in Bohai's proven oil reserves to a recent research finding, which proved that most of the oil reserves in this region are on the ocean floor some 1,000 meters deep.

"Our exploration efforts were much less fruitful in the past, as we used to concentrate on the 2,000-meter-deep ocean floor," said a geologist of the Bohai Oilfield.

The finding has triggered a new round of exploration in Bohai, directly participated by six transnational corporations including Phillips and Shell, and continues to attract overseas companies that are optimistic about the market prospects of China's oil industry.

"China's offshore oil takes up about a quarter of the country's total oil reserves," said Wei Liucheng, general manager of CNOOC.

With the exploration of more offshore oilfields, he predicted China's offshore oil output will increase by an annual 20 percent in the coming five years.

(21dnn 08/02/2001)