China’s state-owned oil and gas giant CNOOC Ltd (0883. HK) opened a new tab and has discovered a new reserve in the South China Sea that contains over 100 million tons of oil equivalent proved in place, the company said in a statement on Friday. The reserve is located at CNOOC’s deepwater Kaiping South oilfield in the Pearl River Delta near Guangdong province and contains light crude, the statement said.
The discovery is the third of its kind made by CNOOC in the past three years and will help strengthen its offshore oil and gas resource base, the company said. It will also help offset declining production from mature onshore fields and boost its ability to achieve its production targets in 2025 and beyond.
CNOOC is accelerating efforts to replenish its oil and gas reserves, with a focus on deepwater and onshore exploration. In 2017, it achieved substantial exploration results and breakthroughs across its global portfolio, including 19 commercial discoveries in the South China Sea. Its reserve replacement ratio stood at 305% in the year.
In addition to its traditional oil exploration and development work, CNOOC is leveraging the latest technologies and innovation to increase efficiency and reduce costs. Its Shenhai-1 ultra-deepwater large gas field is the first fully independent platform of its kind in the world. It has a proven in-place volume of more than 102 million barrels of oil equivalent and features a semi-submersible production and storage vessel with a 100,000-ton capacity.
The statement added that the company would further advance its exploration in offshore China this year and optimize its strategic overseas assets. In addition, CNOOC will continue to push technological advancement and innovation to improve its competitiveness in the industry.
