PetroChina to produce 1.6 bln tons of oil from Nanpu Oilfield

PetroChina<857>, China's leading oil producer, related that the proven oil reserves at the offshore blocks of the Jidong Nanpu oilfield, is estimated to reach 1 to 1.6 billion tons.

With the inclusion of reserves from the onshore blocks, the total proven reserves on the Nanpu oilfield is expected to reach 2 billion tons.

However, these projections require another five to six years before the figures can be finalized. Meanwhile, exploration works have to be conducted alongside excavation endeavors on the existing proven reserves. With the present estimations, PetroChina is equipped to reach its target of 10 million tons annual output by 2012.

Situated at Bohai Bay, a geologist with the Chinese Academy of Engineering commented that the existing exploration efforts have yet to tap into half of Bohai Bay immense resources.

In 2006, China produced 183.68 million tons of crude oil and imported 138.84 million tons. Net oil imports increased by 4.1% from the previous year, accounting for 47% of the total consumption of the country.