The CNOOC’s first large-scale thermal recovery platform for heavy oil in the southern Bohai Sea has started production.
The China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) announced on 21 July that it had brought online the first phase of its Kenli 10-2 development, producing oil from what the operator called the largest shallow lithological oil field offshore China.
The Kenli 10-2 offshore oilfield is a lithological oil field with proven in place volumes of 100 million tons. Reserves were discovered in the shallow depression zone of the Bohai Bay Basin. In September 2021, CNOOC announced Kenli 10-2 as a large heavy oil discovery following drilling and completion of the Kenli 10-2-4 well, with an appraisal well testing at approximately 569 BOPD.
At the time, Xu Changgui, CNOOC’s general manager of exploration, said the find represented a breakthrough lithological discovery and could serve as a guide for exploration in similar basins.
CNOOC has also announced Kenli 6-1, which is already onstream, and Bozhong 26-6 as discoveries of 100 million tons of reserves in the southern Bohai Sea.
CNOOC President Yan Hongtao said in a news release that the Kenli 10-2 project marks a new stage in developing heavy oil reservoirs offshore China. He said the development “will strongly support the company’s Bohai oil field to achieve the annual gross production target of 40 million tons.”
Located in waters of about 20 m in the Bohai Sea, the heavy oil project features a new central platform and a pair of wellhead platforms and leverages adjacent existing facilities for development. The operator said it plans to commission 79 development wells, including 33 cold recovery wells, 24 thermal recovery wells, 21 water injection wells, and one water source well. CNOOC anticipates reaching peak production of 19,400 BOE/D in 2026. To produce the heavy oil field, CNOOC will apply a combination of techniques, including conventional water injection, steam huff ’n’ puff, and steamflooding.
CNOOC said the project’s platform integrates both conventional cold production and thermal recovery systems.
When announcing its 2025 business strategy and development plan in January, CNOOC flagged the Kneli 10-2 Phase 1 project as one of four important projects the company planned to bring online this year. The other three are the first phase of Bozhong 26-6, which started production in the Bohai Sea in February; the ExxonMobil-operated Yellowtail project, slated to begin production later this year offshore Guyana; and the Petrobras-operated Buzios 7 project, which started production offshore Brazil in February.
