PetroChina begins trial ops at Dagang Chenghai oil field

PetroChina Co Ltd has begun trial operations at the Chenghai shallow water field in its Dagang oil field in north eastern China, reported the China Petroleum Daily, owned by PetroChina's parent, China National Petroleum Corp.

The Chenghai field, located near Tianjin, is expected to have oil and gas reserves of 18.85 mln tons, it said.

PetroChina's Dagang unit plans to drill 37 wells in the field, of which eight development wells had been drilled by the end of July, it said.

The company has set a target for Dagang of 6 mln tons of oil equivalent a year by 2010.

The field produced 5.54 mln tons of oil equivalent in 2006, its highest output since the site was tapped in 1964.

The field's proven oil reserves totaled 950 mln tons as of the end of 2006, with natural gas reserves of 64.2 bln cubic meters.