China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) announced on March 7 the discovery of the Kaiping South oilfield, China's first deep-sea and deep-layer oilfield.
With a proven reserve of 102 million tons of oil equivalent, the oilfield is expected to contribute to guaranteeing national energy security.
Located approximately 300 kilometers away from Shenzhen, in South China’s Guangdong Province, the Kaiping South oilfield has an average water depth exceeding 500 meters and a maximum well depth of 4,831 meters, and is proved to be able to produce light crude oil.
It has been tested to have an average daily oil and gas output of more than 1,000 tons of oil equivalent, a new record for deep-sea and deep-layer oil and gas production testing in China.
Deep-sea and deep-layer oil exploration is key to improving China’s oil and natural gas reserves and production. In recent years, China has strengthened scientific research and innovated geological understanding and has made breakthroughs in geological theory and engineering technology of deep-sea and deep-layer oil and gas.
The endeavors have led to the discoveries of the Bozhong 26-6 deep-layer oilfield with a proven reserve of 100 million tons and the Baodao 21-1 deep-sea and deep-layer gas field.
With the addition of the new discovery of the Kaiping South oilfield, the enormous oil and natural gas exploration potential in China's deepwater and deep-layer areas has been firmly proved.
The geological conditions of China's nearshore basins are far more complicated than those of onshore oilfields in the central and western regions at the same depth. The cover of seawater makes oil and natural gas drilling more challenging.
According to CNOOC's subsidiary in Shenzhen, the company drilled 12 wells in the Kaiping sag in 2023, with an average well depth of more than 4,000 meters. The application of the comprehensive offshore drilling acceleration and efficiency of the technological system played a key role in the engineering process. The drilling of the two wells broke the record for offshore drilling cycles in China.
(Executive editor: Zhu Zeya)
