China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) has announced that it will drill up to 132 exploration wells in 2018 and that it will also bring five projects into production.
The giant Chinese oil and gas major said it will acquired about 19000km² of 3-D seismic data as it also strives to bring the Hess-operated Stampede oil field in the United States, the Weizhou 6-13 oil field, Penglai 19-3 oil field 1/3/8/9 comprehensive adjustment project, Dongfang 13-2 gas fields and Wenchang 9-2/9-3/10-3 gas fields offshore China into production.
Bloomberg said the $12,7 billion that CNOOC planned to spend in 2018 represented the company’s highest capex in four years.
The capital expenditures for exploration, development, and production account for approximately 18%, 65% and 16%, respectively.
Xie Weizhi, CNOOC CFO said: “The company will maintain prudent financial policy and investment decision-making. We will continue to reinforce quality and efficiency enhancements to continuously improve the Company’s core competitiveness.”
Yuan Guangyu, CNOOC CEO, added: “In 2018, the Company endeavours to strengthen innovation and technology-driven philosophy. Meanwhile, we will continue to pursue a sustainable and environmentally friendly development model while increasing oil and gas production and reserves, in order to deliver improved shareholder returns.”
CNOOC is targeting a net production of 470 million to 480 million barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) in 2018, of which China will account for about 64% and overseas assets approximately 36%.
The Company’s net production for 2017 was estimated to be approximately 469 million BOE. The Company’s net production for 2019 and 2020 is estimated to be approximately 485 million BOE and 500 million BOE, respectively.
