CNOOC May Start Drilling for Gas in South China Sea This Year

China National Offshore Oil Corp is expected to commence drilling for natural gas in the 43/11 deepwater block in the South China Sea in the latter half of the year.

A report in China Daily said that CNOOC plans to be the operator of the deepwater block and will have a 55.5 percent interest in the project when it moves into its development and production phase. BP is expected to hold 20 percent and Anadarko Petroleum Corp 24.5 percent.

During the exploration, CNOOC is to hold a 9.18 percent working interest in the project, while BP is to have a 40.82 percent interest and Anadarko a 50 percent interest.

The company aims at extracting 50 million metric tons of oil equivalent from the block by 2020.

Meanwhile, CNOOC is progressing with the sesmic work on the company's first shale gas block in Anhui province. The shale gas block is being jointly developed and explored with China Petrochemical Corp.