CNOOC strikes oil in deepwater South China Sea

CNOOC announced a significant discovery in the Kaiping South oilfield, a deepwater field in the eastern South China Sea. The discovery will add over 100 million tons of oil equivalent proved in-place volume.

The oilfield has an average water depth of approximately 500 m. The main oil-bearing plays are Zhuhai Formation, Enping Formation and Wenchang Formation of Paleogene, and the oil property is light crude.

The discovery well KP18-1-1d was drilled and completed at a depth of 3,462 m, which encountered a total of 100.6 m oil and gas pay zones. The well was tested to produce an average of approximately 7,680 barrels of crude oil and 0.52 million cu ft of natural gas per day.

Through continued exploration, the proved in-place volume of Kaiping South Oilfield has reached 102 million tons of oil equivalent.

“Kaiping South Oilfield is China’s first deepwater and deep-play oilfield with proved in-place volume over a hundred million tons,” said Xu Changgui, Deputy Chief Exploration Officer, CNOOC. “The discovery fully demonstrates the broad prospects for exploration in deepwater South China Sea and further expands the resource base for the company’s high-quality development.”