Supported by Society for Underwater Technology, sponsored by BMC China Exhibition Co., Ltd., China Subsea Technology Summit 2013 (CSTS 2013) was successfully held in Shanghai on April 22-23. The summit aims to facilitate the cooperation on China's offshore oil and gas development with the theme of Shifting Paradigm to Deeper, Remoter and Harsher Frontiers.
During the summit, the participating Chinese and foreign enterprises and experts shared the latest cutting-edge technologies and market trends of manufacturing, installation and safety of the deepwater equipments, discussed unpredictable challenges faced during exploration and development of deeper, remoter and harsher waters and also elaborated the up-to-date standards, systems and technologies as well as the experience.
China gained some successful experience on deepwater oil and gas development in recent years. China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) has allocated billions of dollars for exploring the potential oil and gas resource in deepwater, which has brought numerous opportunities for international oil and gas service providers and equipment suppliers.
The South China Sea is the key area for China's deepwater oil and gas development. Presenting at CSTS 2013 in Shanghai, SUN Xu, deputy general manager of CNOOC’s deepwater gas development projects of the South China Sea, said that Liwan 3-1 as China’s first gas field in the South China Sea has the designed maximum output up to 12 billion cubic meters and it is expected to reach peak capacity in the next 5-10 years.
SUN Xu added that according to storage characteristics of oil and gas resources in the South China Sea, there are mainly oil fields in the shallow waters and the waters deeper than 1,500 meters are dominated by gas fields. Liwan 3-1 is expected to put into operation by the end of this year or later next year with the initial production capacity of 3.6 billion cubic meters.
SUN Xu told the delegates that the investment in the upstream oil and gas development by CNOOC keeps growing and it is estimated that it will still be increasing by a large margin in the next few years. The South China Sea has rich oil and gas resources, CNOOC will further promote the oil and gas development in the area and increase investment in oil and gas development of the deepwater.
The South China Sea is endowed with abundant oil and gas resources, but most of them are embedded in deepwater below 300 meters. China's offshore oil and gas development has been long concentrated in shallow waters, which results in the relative lack of technology and experience in developing the deepwater oil and gas blocks. Experts said that China still needs to strengthen the international cooperation in oil and gas development in the South China Sea. At the same time, China also needs to keep strengthening the scientific and technological study, the investment on basic experiments and talent pool, thus to overcome the constraints of deepwater oil and gas development in the aspects of technologies, equipments, personnel and others.
