CNSPC set to tap more gas in East China Sea

Feb. 12, 2001
Exploitation of what is described as the East China Sea's largest gas field will begin soon.

Exploitation of what is described as the East China Sea's largest gas field will begin soon.

China National Star Petroleum Co., a subsidiary of China Petrochemical Corp. (Sinopec), said it will begin work at Chunxiao field shortly.

So far, CNSPC has discovered eight oil and gas fields and a group of oil and gas bearing structures in the East China Sea with total reserves of approximately 200 bcm (7.06 tcf). In the Chunxiao area alone, 54 bcm (1.91 tcf) in natural gas reserves have been verified, the article said.

The first-phase project, concentrated on the Chunxiao structure, is slated for completion in 2004. The project is expected to produce 2 bcm (70.63 bcf) of gas. By 2010, its output is to reach 8-10 bcm/year (282-353 bcf/year).

OGJ reported that Shanghai Offshore Petroleum Exploration & Development Corp.'s 1 Chunxiao wildcat flowed 56 MMcfd of gas and 1,258 b/d of crude oil in the East China Sea, the second highest flow rate recorded in the region (OGJ, July 31, 1995, p. 43).

China National Offshore Oil Corp.'s Pinghu field, the only field on production in the East China Sea, was producing at the rate of 47 MMcfd of gas through a pipeline to shore last summer (OGJ Online, June 28, 2000).

CNSPC has drilled 5 wells on the Chunxiao structure in the southern Xihu graben since the 1980s. Chunxiao is the southernmost of CNSPC's southern Xihu discoveries, lying about 80 km southeast of Pinhu field. Primeline Energy Holdings Inc. has been studying the next step for its Vicky discovery on 1.1 million acre Block 32/32 about 85 miles off Wenzhou and 225 miles southwest of Pinghu field.

The first appraisal well drilled by Primeline and China National Offshore Oil Corp. stabilized at 12.25 MMcfd of gas and 189 b/d of condensate last August. The flow came from a single test zone in an Upper Paleocene reservoir. TD is 2,900 m.

Primeline said the well test confirmed similar quality and characteristics to the discovery well, Lishui 36-1-1 (Vicky-1), made in late 1997 (see map, OGJ, Aug. 9, 1999, p. 80). It had not declared the field commercial by late 2000.