China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) has announced that Phase I of the Kenli 10-2 oilfield, China’s largest offshore lithologic oilfield, has entered full production.
Located in the south Bohai Sea, offshore of northern China, the Kenli 10-2 oilfield holds over 100 million tonnes of proven reserves.
According to CNOOC, China’s biggest offshore oil producer, the field is producing more than 2,800 tonnes of crude per day, or roughly 20,000 barrels, following full operational deployment.
Kenli 10-2 has an average water depth of 20 metres. It is what is known as a shallow-lithologic oilfield, meaning the oil is trapped within relatively shallow rock formations. It’s a highly complex geology that makes extraction more challenging than conventional reservoirs as the oil and gas are contained within narrow, curved sand formations that spread and intersect.
This first phase of development includes a newly built central processing platform and two unmanned wellhead platforms, with a total...