Unocal East China Sea Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Chevron Corp., has started natural gas production from the first stage of the Chuandongbei project in southwest China.
The startup of the first train commences Stage 1 of the project, which covers more than 800 sq km in Sichuan Province and the Chongqing municipality.
Production is planned to ramp up over coming months as all three trains come on line. The three trains have a combined design outlet capacity of 258 MMcfd of gas.
The Chuandongbei project, estimated to contain potentially recoverable gas resources of 3 tcf, is one of the largest onshore gas projects developed by an international oil company and a national oil company in China, Chevron says.
Unocal East China Sea operates the Chuandongbei project with 49% interest. China National Petroleum Corp. holds 51% interest. In 2007 the companies signed a 30-year production-sharing contract to develop the area (OGJ Online, Dec. 18, 2007).