CNOOC advances R&D at Chinese deepwater fields, CCUS demonstration project

CNOOC drilled six new oil and gas discoveries and successfully appraised 28 oil and gas-bearing structures globally last year, the company said in a recent results update.

Offshore eastern China, the successes included the Longkou 25-1 discovery and the Qinhuangdao 29-6 appraisal well, demonstrating the potential in shallow lithologic fields in the Bohai Bay region.

In the Stabroek Block offshore Guyana, the company partnered with ExxonMobil in the successful appraisal of the Lukanani and Ranger oilfields.

At certain domestic projects in Chinese waters, CNOOC deployed “intelligent” water injection and production technology to help arrest natural decline rates.

As for exploration and development, use of geophysical technology to improve the quality of deep seismic data supported the discovery of the deepwater Huizhou 19-6 oil field, with in-place volumes of more than 100 MMt.

Other milestones included advancement of an “excellent & intelligent” drilling and completion demonstration project, and R&D for a deepwater subsea christmas tree and control system.

CNOOC also commissioned construction of the Hainan CZ7 offshore wind power project, and a 16-MW tension-leg floating wind power platform has started construction.

In addition, operations started at China’s first offshore carbon capture utilization and storage (CCUS) demonstration project at the Enping 15-1 oil field, and work finished on a feasibility study for the Daya Bay CCS/CCUS Cluster Demonstration Project.

For 2026, CNOOC is targeting annual production in the range 780 MMboe to 800 MMboe, and it is budgeting overall capex of RMB112 billion to 122 billion (US$16.2 billion - $17.7 billion).