CNOOC announces large-scale oil discovery in Bohai Sea

CNOOC has announced that it has made a major oilfield discovery with its Qinhuangdao 29-6 well in the central Bohai Sea.

The discovery adds over one hundred million tons of oil equivalent in-place, the company says.

The main oil-bearing play is within the Neogene Minghuazhen Formation, which is characterized by a shallow burial depth. The oil property is medium-heavy crude, CNOOC reports.

The discovery well was drilled and completed at a depth of 1,688 meters, which encountered a total of 66.7 meters of oil pay zones and was tested to produce approximately 2,560 barrels of crude oil per day. Through continued exploration, the proved in-place volume of the Qinhuangdao 29-6 oilfield has exceeded 100 million tons of oil equivalent, CNOOC says.

Mr. Xu Changgui, the Chief Geologist of the Company, said: “CNOOC Limited has made a significant discovery through enhanced research on hydrocarbon migration and accumulation models in shallow Neogene slope zones, coupled with technological innovation. This achievement challenges the conventional understanding that slope areas merely serve as pathways for hydrocarbons rather than sites for substantial accumulation. It further highlights the considerable exploration potential of uplifted peripheral slopes in settings influenced by intense extensional–strike-slip faulting.”

CNOOC says that the Qinhuangdao 29-6 discovery is the second one-hundred-million-ton-class lithological oilfield discovered in the mature exploration area of the Shijiutuo Uplift.