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He did not offer any details or name any potential 1,800 barrels per day (bpd) in 2021.
partners, but he indicated that the Nigerian gov- The company, which is the listed arm of
ernment was keen to adopt an operating model state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corp.
that would allow for greater operational effi- (CNOOC), owns 100% of the Nanbao 35-2 oil-
ciency, as well as “more scrutiny of shareholders.” field. The S1 area’s production facilities include
The refineries have long been a drag on state- an unmanned wellhead platform, which has
owned NNPC’s operations. They have been been tied back to Nanbao 35-2’s existing pro-
operating at far below capacity, partly because duction infrastructure. The project is located at
of underinvestment and maintenance-re- an average water depth of 17 metres.
lated issues and partly because of damage to CNOOC Ltd said at the start of the year it
the pipeline networks that supply the plants aimed to bring on stream eight domestic projects
with feedstock. Company data show that the as well as two overseas developments.
plants processed almost no crude oil during the The domestic projects included the Penglai
13-month period ending on June 30, even as 19-3 oilfield Block 4 adjustment/Penglai19-9 oil-
they sustained operating costs of $367mn. field phase II, Qinhuangdao 33-1 South oilfield
Meanwhile, Tullow Oil (UK/Ireland) is revis- phase I, Bozhong 19-6 natural gas field pilot area,
ing its Kenyan programme. The company has Luda 16-3/21-2 joint development project, Nan-
put plans for unloading part of its stake in Blocks bao 35-2 oilfield S1 area, Jinzhou 25-1 oilfield
10BB and 13T on hold, and Kenya’s government 6/11 area, Liuhua 29-1 gas field development
has agreed to extend the term of its exploration project and Liuhua 16-2 oilfield/20-2 oilfield
licence by 15 months. Officials in Nairobi now joint development.
expect Tullow to use the extra time to update CNOOC Ltd said in January that its projected
its field development plan (FDP) for the blocks, capital expenditure was CNY85-95bn ($12.49-
which lies in the South Lokichar Basin. (They 13.95bn) and that it would drill 227 exploration
have also granted the company a number of new wells and collect around 27,000 square km of 3D
tax breaks, according to local press reports.) seismic data. The company has since trimmed its
Also in East Africa, Ugandan President Yow- planned capex by 11% to CNY75-85bn ($11.02-
eri Museveni and his Tanzanian counterpart 12.49bn), with the majority of cuts targeting
John Magufuli witnessed the signing of docu- foreign ventures. However, some reduction in
ments on the planned East African Crude Oil domestic spending and output is expected.
Pipeline (EACOP) project last week. As they The S1 area is understood to be the company’s
did so, Ugandan news agencies reported that fourth Bohai project to be brought on stream this
France’s Total had agreed to resume the acqui- year, with reports suggesting that both drilling
sition of land along the planned route of the in the Bozhong 19-6 natural gas discovery and
pipeline. construction of onshore facilities for the Jinzhou
25-1 oilfield 6/11 area are underway.
If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping CNOOC Ltd is not the only state major to
Africa’s oil and gas sector then please click here for be favouring domestic projects over interna-
NewsBase’s AfrOil Monitor. tional assets, with both PetroChina and Sinopec
announcing similar capex cutting strategies. The
Asia: CNOOC’s new shallow-water oilfield central government has called on the country’s
State-run CNOOC Ltd has started production oil and gas producers to boost output in order to
from the Nanbao 35-2 oilfield’s S1 area, which safeguard the country’s energy security.
lies in the shallow-water zone offshore eastern
China. The company said on September 11 that If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping
it intended to drill three development wells and Asia’s oil and gas sector then please click here for
boost crude oil production to a peak of around NewsBase’s AsianOil Monitor.

P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 37 17•September•2020