CNOOC Finds Light Crude at Kaiping South Field

CNOOC Ltd. scored a major light crude oil discovery with its deepwater Kaiping South Field in the South China Sea.

The field, located in an average water depth of 500 m, holds 102 MMtons of oil equivalent proved in-place volume, CNOOC said.

The main oil-bearing plays are Zhuhai Formation, Enping Formation and Wenchang Formation of Paleogene. The discovery well KP18-1-1d was drilled and completed at a depth of 3,462 m and encountered 100.6 m of oil and gas pay zones. During well testing, it produced an average of 7,680 bbl/d of crude and 520,000 cf/d of gas. 

"Kaiping South oilfield is China's first deepwater and deep-play oilfield with proved in-place volume over a hundred million tons. The discovery fully demonstrates the broad prospects for exploration in deepwater South China Sea," Xu Changgui, CNOOC’s deputy chief exploration officer, said in a press release.

CNOOC CEO and President Zhou Xinhuai said in a press release the company’s breakthroughs in oil and gas exploration in the eastern South China Sea are “building a new growth pole for offshore oil and gas production.”