PetroChina rolls out trial ops at oil field

PetroChina Co Ltd<857>, subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corp, has commenced trial operations in its Dagang oil fiend in north eastern China at the Chenghai shallow water field, according to a report by China Petroleum Daily.

The firm is in talks to drill 37 wells in the field, of which eight development wells had been drilled by the end of last month. The Chenghai field, situated in close proximity to Tianjin, is likely to have oil and gas reserves of approximately 18.85 tons. Its stipulated target for Dagang is set to reach 6 million tons of oil by the year 2010. At present, the field churns out 5.54 million tons of oil, the equivalent of 2006, its highest output since the site was tapped in 1964.

The field's oil reserves are estimated to add up to an aggregate amount of 950 million tons as of the end of year 2006. On the other hand, natural gas reserves accounted to 64.2 billion cubic meters.