CNOOC to complete abandonment of Lufeng field

Offshore staff

OSLO -- After more than 11 years in production, StatoilHydro and Chinese National Offshore Oil Co. (CNOOC) have reached a mutual agreement to transfer full responsibility for the abandonment of the Lufeng field in the South China Sea to CNOOC.

The transfer will take effect after the production shutdown later this year.

The field is 250 km (155 mi) southeast of Hong Kong and was first discovered by Occidental in 1983. Ampolex took over in 1991 and sold its interests to Statoil in 1996. The field was brought on stream in 1997. By the agreement, StatoilHydro will hand over its 75% interest in Lufeng 22-1 to CNOOC.

Lufeng originally planned to produce 25 MMbbl of oil, but exceeded a total of 42 MMbbl by year-end 2008. Production was originally scheduled to shut down in 2004.

04//17/2009