The Chinese National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) found a “major” discovery of an oil deposit in the depths of the South China Sea named Kaiping South on March 8th.
The discovery reportedly adds over one hundred million tons of proven reserves of oil. Kaiping South lies in the eastern part of the South China Sea and has an average depth of around 1,640 ft (500 m).
The discovery well, KP18-1-1d, was completed at a depth of 11,355 ft (3,462 m) when it came into contact with 100.6 m of oil and gas pay zones. After tests, KP18-1-1d was calculated to have an average of 7,680 barrels per day and 0.52 million cubic feet of gas. Additional exploration has established an in-place volume of 102 mega/million tons of oil equivalent.
Deputy Chief Exploration Officer of CNOOC Xu Changgui said, “Kaiping South oil field is China’s first deepwater and deep-play oil field with a proved in-place volume of over a hundred million tons. The discovery fully demonstrates the broad prospects for exploration in the deepwater South China Sea and further expands the resource base of the Company’s high-quality development.”
