Page 7 - DMEA Week 37

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

Week 37 17•September•2020 www. NEWSBASE .com P7