Bozhong 26-6, the 100-million-metric-ton oilfield, has been discovered in China's Bohai Sea, according to an announcement by China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC). It is currently the largest metamorphic buried hill oilfield in China, and is expected to strengthen the country's offshore oil and natural gas reserves and play a significant role in guaranteeing national energy security.
Located in a southern area of the Bohai Sea, the oilfield is about 170 kilometers from North China's Tianjin Municipality and has an average water depth of 22.1 meters.
It has proven geological reserves of 130 million tons of oil equivalent and is capable of producing more than 20 million tons of crude oil. After refining, the output is estimated to provide enough gasoline for 10,000 cars to run for 30 years.
Meanwhile, the newly-found oilfield can produce over 9 billion cubic meter of natural gas, which can meet residential gas demands in Tianjin for nearly 15 years.
A view of an offshore production platform in the Bozhong 26-6 oilfield recently discovered by China National Offshore Oil Corporation in Bohai Sea [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]
The buried hill where the Bozhong 26-6 oilfield is located was formed 3.2 billion years ago, with metamorphic rock as its main composition element. Exploration of the reservoir started as early as the late 1970s without any breakthrough.
Zhou Jiaxiong, chief geologist of CNOOC's subsidiary in Tianjin, explained that the company has developed more than 10 wells since 2018 to study the impact of fractures on the divisibility of a buried hill reservoir and has put forward the theory that fractures have a sealing ability. Those efforts laid a foundation to the discovery of the Bozhong 26-6 oilfield.
Zhou Xinhuai, CEO of CNOOC, said that the discovery of the Bozhong 26-6 oilfield shows the broad prospect of exploration for subtle buried hill oil and gas reservoirs in the Bohai Sea and has important guiding significance for exploration in similar basins.
(Executive editor: Xie Yunxiao)
