First oil flows from CNOOC’s project offshore China

Chinese state-owned oil and gas giant China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) has begun oil production from a development project in Liaodong Bay of Bohai Sea off the coast of China.

While disclosing the start-up of its 100% operated Suizhong 36-2 oilfield 36-2 Block development project, CNOOC underlines that the main production facility is a new unmanned wellhead platform. According to the Chinese player, 21 development wells are planned to be commissioned, including 16 production wells and 5 water-injection wells.

“The project relies on the facilities of the adjacent producing projects to process and transport the crude. Standardized engineering and construction was applied to the project to effectively reduce the offshore construction workload, thus controlling the overall investment and ensuring the project’s return,” explained the Chinese giant.

Located in Liaodong Bay of Bohai Sea within an average water depth of approximately 27 meters, the Suizhong 36-2 oilfield project is expected to achieve peak production of around 9,700 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2026. The oil property is light crude.

The new project was brought on stream two weeks after CNOOC disclosed a new first for China with the beginning of production at a development said to be the Asian country’s first offshore multi-layer heavy oil thermal recovery project.

Another oilfield project, which recently commenced production, was portrayed as the firm’s first deep buried hill reservoir development in the South China Sea. The firm also kicked off production at one more oilfield development project in Bohai Bay, after beginning natural gas production from a project in the South China Sea.