China's first independent deepwater oilfield cluster produces over 10 mln tons of crude oil

 

(ECNS) -- China's largest offshore oil producer China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) on Thursday announced that the Liuhua 16-2 oilfield cluster, China's first independent deepwater oil and gas project, has accumulated production of over 10 million tons of crude oil.

As the largest oil field cluster in the South China Sea, the oilfield has a maximum output of 4.5 million cubic meters of crude oil annually, equivalent to one year's gasoline consumption of more than 4 million cars.

The cluster is located in the eastern South China Sea, about 250 kilometers southeast of Shenzhen. It includes Liuhua 16-2, Liuhua 20-2 and Liuhua 21-2 with an average depth of 412 meters, the deepest-water project in China's offshore oil exploration sector.

The oil field cluster has an average water depth of 412 meters, making it the deepest oil field cluster in China's offshore development. It possesses the largest underwater production system for offshore oil and gas fields in Asia. The development technology involved in this project ranks among the most challenging and complex in the world.

Since the first oilfield of the cluster commenced production in September 2020, production has been steadily increasing. Currently, the daily oil and gas production of the oilfield cluster is maintained at over 11,000 metric tons of oil equivalent.

All production wells in the oilfield cluster are operating at full capacity, maintaining a frequency of "one oil tanker every five days and one gas tanker every three days" for external transportation.

This year, a total of 70 shipments of oil and gas have been exported, said Jiang Junda, General Manager of Liuhua Oilfield at the CNOOC Shenzhen Branch.