CNOOC Finds Large Gas Field in South China Sea

CNOOC on Monday said that it has found gas natural gas in South China Sea.

Country’s first deepwater rig, CNOOC 981, made its first deepwater gas field discovery, called the Lingshui 17-2 gas field, some 150 kilometers south of Hainan Island, is in the east Lingshui Sag of the Qiongdongnan Basin, the company said in a statement, Xinhua reported.

It is an ultradeepwater gasfield at an average operational water depth of 1,500 meters.

Xie Yuhong, a manager with CNOOC, said the well would produce 56.5 million cubic feet of gas per day, equivalent to about 9,400 barrels of liquid oil per day, the highest daily flow of all CNOOC's gas wells during testing, Xinhua stated.

The discovery needs to be confirmed by the resources reserve authority and, until then, the exact exploitable reserves cannot be reported.

According to Xie, the gasfield could be very large, given test results so far.