Damon Evans, SINGAPORE: China’s state-run CNOOC is set to start its first independently operated deep-water exploration this year, as part of its wider efforts to double oil and gas production.
With supply from China’s maturing onshore fields stagnating and limited potential in shallow waters, after 30 years of drilling, CNOOC is to use its exclusive rights to develop China’s offshore resources, tapping the deep-water frontier to meet rising demand.
So far, China’s large deep-water discoveries have all been made by a sole foreign firm, Canada’s Husky Energy, but CNOOC is poised to become much more active in the sector.
It plans to drill 114 exploration wells this year, including three deep-water probes in the South China Sea. The campaign is designed to help the firm meet its target of doubling hydrocarbons production by 2020 and tripling it by 2030, compared with 2010 volumes. In 2010,...