China's Bohai Sea Oilfield, the country's largest offshore oil producing base, discovers a third oil field with output of over 100 million tons, China National Offshore Oil Corp announced on March 1, 2023. The field can extract more than 20 million tons of crude oil, which can be refined into enough gasoline for 10,000 small cars to run normally for 30 years. Photo: cnsphoto

Chinese oil giant CNOOC said on Sunday it has made a significant discovery in the Bozhong 26-6 oilfield in the country's northern Bohai Sea, revealing additional proven reserves exceeding 40million cubic meters. The oilfield's petroleum reservoir now boasts an accumulative 200 million cubic meters, making it the world's largest metamorphic oilfield.

Located in the southern waters of the Bohai Sea, about 170 kilometers offshore Tianjin city, drilling and exploration at Bozhong 26-6 area has kept on. 

Of which, the Bozhong 26-2 North 2 Well encountered a 118-meter-thick oil and gas layer during the drilling process. 

The test results showed that the average daily oil production of the well exceeded 390 cubic meters, and the daily gas production exceeded 50,000 cubic meters, setting a record high for the test productivity of new drilling wells in the oilfield.

It is expected that the Bozhong 26-6 oilfield can extract more than 30 million cubic meters of crude oil, meeting the daily transportation needs of urban residents with a population of one million for more than 20 years, after being refined into gasoline. 

At the same time, it can extract more than 11 billion cubic meters of natural gas, which can satisfy the household gas needs of urban residents with a population of one million for more than 60 years, the company said. 

The reservoirs of the Bozhong 26-6 oil field are buried in seabed hills thousands of meters deep below the surface. They are mainly composed of metamorphic rocks. 

Traditional theories believe that due to the continuous strong activity of faults in this area, deep oil and gas reservoirs are easily destroyed and it is difficult to form large-scale oil and gas accumulation. Previously, more than 80 deep-water wells drilled by many well-known foreign oil companies have not made meaningful discoveries.

Global Times