Latest explorations indicate Jidong Nanpu Oilfield in Bohai Bay
may have more reserves than previously estimated, PetroChina
President Jiang Jiemin said yesterday.
"The Jidong Nanpu Oilfield has huge and quality reserves of up
to 5 million tons per square km. The 1-billion-ton reserve
announced earlier is not the final figure. As our explorations
deepen, we expect to discover more reserves," Jiang said.
Corroborating Jiang, Zhai Guangming, a renowned geologist with
the Chinese Academy of Engineering and Jidong Oilfield's first
general manger, said that even half of Bohai Bay's resource has not
been tapped.
Earlier, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC),
PetroChina's parent company, had said the newly found oilfield had
a reserve of 1 billion tons, or about 7.35 billion barrels of oil,
the largest discovery in the country in the past four decades.
CNPC is exploring the offshore potential at the oilfield further
to come up with a more accurate reserve figure, which may be
subject to State assessment by July, said Shi Lin, president of
CNPC's offshore subsidiary, China National Petroleum Offshore
Engineering Co.
It is very likely that the official reserve figure, to be
assessed by State resource reserve authority, will exceed 1 billion
tons, Shi said.
Oil production in Bohai Bay's onshore areas have been equal to
that of Daqing Oilfield, that is, more than 40 million tons, Shi
said. And the offshore blocks seem to have greater potential.
According to CNPC's estimates, by 2012 the Nanpu Oilfield could
produce 10 million tons of crude every year, with 7 million tons
coming from offshore areas. After further tapping the Nanpu block,
CNPC will shift its focus to other offshore areas around the bay
such as Jinzhou and Panjin before the end of this year, Shi
said.
Rising demand
Year-on-year crude production in China's old oilfields, such as
Daqing, has been declining in recent times. Hence, the latest
discoveries in the bay by PetroChina and CNOOC have come as a shot
in the arm both for the companies' business and China's energy
supply, analysts said.
More importantly, the new discoveries will help the country
greatly in meeting its soaring energy needs, Han Xuegong, a senior
consultant with CNPC, said.
China's top offshore oil and gas company CNOOC, too, has made
some exciting discoveries in Bohai Bay, and is expecting to find "a
cluster of quality oil and gas fields".
The demand for fuel in China has increased with the rapid growth
of its economy. Last year, the country consumed more than 320
million tons of crude, an year-on-year increase of 7.1 percent,
according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
Last year, 145.18 million tons of crude - or 45 percent of the
total crude consumption - was imported, Xinhua News Agency has
said, quoting NBS figures.
General Administration of Customs (GAC) data show that China
imported a record 14.82 million tons of crude in April, up 23
percent year-on-year. Crude imports rose 10.8 percent year-on-year
in the first four months of this year to reach 54.46 million
tons.
In contrast, the country's crude exports from January to April
fell 55 percent year-on-year to 1.07 million tons, according to
customs figures.
The fact that people bought crude in advance to prepare for the
peak oil consumption season in summer is the major reason behind
the record monthly increase in imports, an industry insider
said.
"Chinese importers have become wiser when it comes to choosing
the right timing to buy crude from the international market. The
current oil price is relatively lower, and a lot of consumers are
buying in advance for summer," said Niu Li, an economist with the
State Information Center, affiliated to China's top economic
planner the National Development and Reform Commission.
(China Daily May 17, 2007)