By an OGJ Online Correspondent
BEIJING, Feb. 26�China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (Sinopec) is slated to spend $2.9 billion on gas exploration and production in the East China Sea in the next 5 years.
The company will drill 20 exploration wells by the end of 2002 and conduct seismic surveys at the Xihu trough.
The company expects its exploration activities at the East China Sea to raise gas reserves at Xihu to 150 billion cu m to 200 billion by 2003 from 54 billion now.
Sinopec will focus on the Chunxiao structure at Xihu, where it expects to produce 2 billion cu m/year in 2004 and 10 billion by 2010 (OGJ Online, Feb 9, 2001).
Xihu's gas will be earmarked for industrial and residential consumption in Shanghai province 350 km away and Zhejiang province 500 km distant. Their combined gas demand will be 5 billion cu m/year by 2005 and 13 billion by 2010.
Sinopec planned to allocate 1 billion cu m of gas from Xihu as the feedstock for chemical production by subsidiaries Gaoqiao Petrochemical Corp. and Shanghai Petrochemical Corp.
Sinopec is expected to share 50% of its interest in the East China Sea tracts with China National Offshore Oil Corp.