CNOOC recently announced that China ’s largest offshore oil field, the Bohai Oilfield, has discovered a lot of oil and gas: Kenli 6-1-3, located in the northern part of Laizhou Bay, Bohai Sea, has an annual output of more than 400,000 barrels of crude oil tested. CNOOC said the discovery is expected to become the first large oil field in the Laibei low uplift.
What does the annual production of 400,000 barrels in a test well mean, and how big is the oilfield's reserves, and how does it affect China's energy security?
The picture is from CNOOC Public Account.
Annual production of test wells exceeds 400,000 barrels
CNOOC confirmed that the Kenli 6-1 oilfield has the characteristics of large reserves, good oil properties, and high test productivity. It was found that the well Kenli 6-1-3 drilled a total of about 20 meters thick and completed a drilling depth of 1596 meters.
From the test point of view, the annual output of crude oil in this well alone can reach more than 400,000 barrels. After being refined into gasoline, it can be used for about 10,000 cars for 5 years. After the oil field is put into production, multiple production wells will bring More considerable social and economic benefits.
What does it mean to produce more than 400,000 barrels per year? Li Pengzheng, CEO of Canada Kunpeng Kerun Petroleum Holdings Co., Ltd. calculated to the reporter: "If the annual output of the well is 430,000 barrels, 335 days can be mined per year (30 days per year for maintenance), divided by the The depth of the well is 1.596 kilometers. This production well produces about 804 barrels of oil per kilometer, which is about 115 tons of crude oil.
The test well also has good economy. "Based on the annual output of 430,000 barrels at 50 US dollars per barrel, the annual revenue is 21.5 million US dollars. The drilling cost can be recovered within one year and the economic benefits are good."
Recently, the crude oil market price continues to run low. Why is it calculated at the price of 50 US dollars / barrel? In this regard, Li Pengzheng explained that the prices used in the full-cycle economic model of petroleum projects need theoretical support and are not consistent with the current crude oil prices that fluctuate at all times.
Cost of crude oil production in various countries. Data from Ping An Securities
At present, the specific reserves of the oilfield are still in the verification stage of the Ministry of Natural Resources, but CNOOC revealed: "After 40 days of evaluation of the expansion of oilfield reserves, we will double the proven reserves on the basis of the end of 2019, which is equivalent to the large oilfields. To build a big oilfield within the country. "
The discovery of Kenli 6-1 is the first large oil field in the northern part of Laizhou Bay. "This is another major discovery after the 19-6 billion Bozhong gas field Bozhong 19-6, which is of great significance for ensuring China's energy security, stabilizing the output of eastern oil fields, and promoting the coordinated development of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei." CNOOC said.
Dong Xiucheng, a professor at the University of International Business and Economics and an expert in energy economics, told reporters that the new discovery in the eastern region has undoubtedly played a positive role in stabilizing and increasing crude oil production.
"The production process of oilfields is also a process of natural production reduction. Many old oilfields in China have entered a recession period. There are certain difficulties in stabilizing production and increasing production. New findings can make up for the reduction in production. Therefore, it is good news for stable production and increasing production and China's energy security. Dong Xiucheng introduced.
40 years to find oil fields
Kenli 6-1 "floated" to the surface and took 40 years.
The discovery is located in the northern area of Laizhou Bay in the Bohai Sea and belongs to the Bohai Oilfield, the largest offshore oil field in China. Since the end of the 1970s, after more than 40 years of exploration in the region, the results have been unsatisfactory. The discovered reserves are small in scale and not concentrated in distribution, and an effective development system cannot be established.
The Laibei low bulge is the only bulge that has not been discovered by commercial oil and gas in the Bohai Oilfield for more than half a century. In 1979, two wells were drilled in this bulge, but they returned without success. From 1990 to 2007, when exploring the deep layers, only the oil and gas showed no oil and gas fields. From 2008 to 2010, he moved to the shallow level and still did not gain anything. From 2016 to 2018, three-dimensional exploration was carried out, and the average proved reserves of a single well was only 850,000 tons.
In the face of this situation, according to the "convergence ridge" theory proposed by Xue Yongan, the chief geologist of the Bohai Petroleum Administration Bureau, in 2019, researchers locked in shallow layers and shifted the exploration direction from raised high points to low positions, and from structural-rock The sexual trap was transferred to the lithological trap, and the bulge exploration opened up.
The picture is from CNOOC Public Account.
CNOOC stated that the successful exploration of Kenli 6-1 oil-bearing structures has demonstrated the huge exploration prospects of the Neolithic lithologic reservoirs in the Laizhou Bay area. The discovery laid a solid foundation for the Bohai Oilfield to continue its green and stable production for 10 years and achieve the goal of 40 million tons of production.
"The average water depth in this area is between 15-20 meters, and opening is not difficult. The Kenli bulge is dominated by light crude oil, and the thickness of the reservoir is between 8 and 20 meters. Although the size of a single reservoir will not be too large, But the multilayer system can form an economic development scale, and the economics of effective development and extraction are the two most important points. "Industry insiders who have engaged in oil exploration and development in the southern Bohai Sea told reporters.
The reporter also learned that on the basis of Kenli 6-1's discovery, CNOOC will continue to boost oil and gas reserves and production, promote the Bozhong 19-6 test zone and China's first self-contained deep-water oilfield Liuhua 16-2, etc. 8 The new projects have been put into operation smoothly, and strive to continue the growth of domestic crude oil and natural gas production.
Positive strategic crude oil reserves
As one of the world's largest manufacturing countries, China has always been a large oil consumer. Wind data shows that China's oil consumption in 2018 reached 620 million tons. In 2019, the national crude oil output was only 190 million tons, and the dependence on crude oil imports exceeded 70%. In this context, it is particularly important to make good crude oil reserves. On December 18, 2007, the National Petroleum Reserve Center of China, which aims to strengthen China ’s strategic oil reserve construction and improve its oil reserve management system, was officially established. It is planned to complete the construction of the oil reserve base in three phases in 15 years. The National Oil Reserve Medium and Long-Term Plan (2008-2020) shows that China will form a total reserve equivalent to 100 days of net oil imports in 2020. In September 2019, the National Energy Administration stated that commercial and strategic crude oil inventories were about 80 days of net imports, which was a gap of 20 days from the target, about 25.7 million tons. From the perspective of increasing crude oil reserves, both the discovery of new oil fields and the plunge in international oil prices are good news. Zhongda Futures pointed out that it is generally believed that when the international oil price falls below $ 40 / barrel, China will open a window for establishing a strategic crude oil reserve. International oil prices are far below this level.
wti crude oil chart in the past five years. Data source: Yingwei's financial situation
Affected by the new crown pneumonia epidemic, as well as the global economy and Russia ’s “oil price war” in Saudi Arabia, international oil prices have fallen by more than 50% from their January highs.
On March 24, international oil prices rose sharply, Brent crude oil futures closed up 3.35%, quoted at $ 30.27 / barrel, and returned to above $ 30. Previously, on the 18th, Brent crude oil futures closed at $ 24.88 / barrel, the lowest closing price since May 8, 2003; WTI crude oil futures closed at $ 20.37 / barrel, a new low since February 20, 2002.
The history of China's large purchases in the past 10 years shows that China's strategic reserves will accelerate the purchase of crude oil whenever international oil prices plummet. For example, when the international oil price was at a low point from 2015 to 2016, China's strategic reserve injection rate increased significantly. The sharp drop in oil prices was also considered by oil analysts as an opportunity to increase crude oil reserves.
Author: Zhang Xu