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CNPC may invest up to $8.5b to tap offshore oil

By Tu Lei (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2008-04-03 16:19

China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC), the nation's largest oil producer, could invest up to 60 billion yuan ($8.56 billion) before 2020 to boost its offshore oil exploration and production capability, Peng Fei, vice general manager of CNPC's offshore engineering unit, said yesterday.

"We will have two semi-submersible drilling platforms by 2015, and another two by 2020, all of them in the South China Sea," said Peng.

CNPC will also build two bases, one in Caofeidian, North China's Hebei Province, and the other in Sanya, South China's Hainan Province, to support production in the Bohai and South China Sea. It is also planning an offshore oil engineering base in Qingdao, East China's Shandong Province.

The CNPC move will break offshore oil exploration history, mainly dominated by the China National Offshore Oil Corporation, said experts familiar with the matter.

CNPC's offshore oilfields today are in the Bohai Sea area, and CNPC will explore deepwater oilfields in the next two or three years.