CNOOC Starts Production at Offshore Oil Filed Equipped with CCUS Tech

China's state-owned oil and gas firm China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) has brought on stream the first phase of Bozhong 26-6 oil field development project in Bohai Bay, which also features carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) capabilities.

The main production facilities include a new central processing platform and an unmanned wellhead platform.

A total of 33 development wells are planned to be commissioned, including 22 production wells, 10 gas injection wells and 1 water source well.

The project is expected to achieve a peak production of approximately 22,300 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2025. The oil property is light crude.

Bozhong 26-6 oil field is said to be the world’s largest metamorphic buried hill oil field with cumulative proven oil and gas in-place of over 200 million cubic meters.

Benefiting from the application of standardized engineering, it took only three years from the discovery of the oil field to production, realizing the rapid conversion of reserves to production.

As one of the demonstration CCUS projects of the company in Bohai, it adopts advanced technology to capture and separate the associated carbon dioxide from crude oil extraction and reinject back into the formation to drive the oil, thereby increasing production while reducing emissions.

The project is expected to bury approximately 1.5 million tons of carbon dioxide throughout its life cycle.

“The successful commencement of production of Bozhong 26-6 Oilfield Development Project (Phase I) marks a new stage for the company in the development of offshore deep play complicated buried hill oil and gas reservoirs as well as the construction of the Bohai CCUS base. It bolsters the company’s energy supply capacity and low-carbon development in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and Bohai Rim regions,” said Yan Hongtao, the President of CNOOC.

CNOOC holds 100% interest in this project and is the operator.