Company expects 19 new projects to come on stream this year
Headquarters of CNOOC in Chaoyangmen neighbourhood of Beijing. (Credit: Daniel Case/Wikipedia.org)
CNOOC has announced that its total capital expenditure for 2021 to be in the range of CNY90bn ($13.91bn) to CNY100bn ($15.46bn), with targeted net production of 545-555 million barrels of oil equivalent (Mboe).
The Chinese national oil company will allocate 61% of its 2021 capital expenditure on development, 17% on exploration, and 20% on production.
As per the current exchange rates, the company’s budget for 2020 was $13.1bn-$14.6bn, while the capital expenditure in 2019 was $10.8bn-$12.4bn.
In 2020, the company’s net production was around 528 million barrels of oil equivalent (BOE).
For the current year, the company estimates nearly 68% of its total production to come from China. Its overseas operations are expected to make up 32% of the total production.
CNOOC has plans to drill 217 exploration wells and also accumulate 3-Dimensional (3D) seismic data of nearly 17,000km2.
CNOOC CEO Xu Keqiang said: “In 2021, under the theme of high-quality development, the Company will be committed to steadily increasing its oil and gas reserves and production, focusing on investment efficiency, maintaining its cost competitiveness, while actively pursuing the concept of green and low-carbon development, to create excellent returns for our shareholders.”
The Chinese firm expects 19 new projects to begin production this year. These include Lingshui 17-2 gas fields development, Lufeng oil fields regional development, and the Caofeidian 6-4 oil field in Chinese waters.
The company also expects the Buzzard oil field phase II in the UK and Mero I oil field in Brazil to come on stream in 2021.
The Chinese oil and gas firm forecast its net production for 2022 and 2023 at 590-600Mboe and 640-650Mboe, respectively.
CNOOC ended 2020 by beginning production from the Penglai 25-6 oilfield area 3 project in south central Bohai Sea, China.
The offshore Chinese project is anticipated to reach its peak production of around 11,511 barrels of crude oil per day in 2023.