CNOOC Announces 2017 Business Strategy

CNOOC Limited has announced its business strategy and development plan for the year 2017, highlighting five new projects. CNOOC, China’s largest offshore oil and gas producer, plans to raise capital spending for the first time since crude prices began its crash in 2014.

The company will increase expenditure, including in the Gulf of Mexico, from 60 to 70 billion yuan ($8.7 billion to $10.2 billion) for 2017 after cuts in the last two years, reports Bloomberg. The deep-water Gulf of Mexico fields, Appomattox and Stampede, will see the majority of CNOOC’s overseas spending this year.

Exploration will account for 18 percent of this year’s spending, development 66 percent and production 15 percent.

The company's net production target for 2017 is in the range of 450 to 460 million barrels of oil equivalent (BOE), of which approximately 64 percent and 36 percent are produced in China and overseas, respectively. The net production targets set for 2018 and 2019 are 455 million to 465 million BOE and 460 million to 470 million BOE, respectively. The net production for 2016 is expected to be approximately 476 million BOE.

There will be five new projects coming on stream during the year, of which the Penglai 19-9 oilfield comprehensive adjustment project and the Enping 23-1 oilfields in China have commenced production. The other three projects, namely phase two of the Weizhou 12-2 oilfield project in China, the BD gas field in Indonesia and the Hangingstone project in Canada will commence production later in the year. Currently, nearly 20 projects are under construction.

In 2017, the Company plans to drill 126 exploration wells and acquire approximately 13 thousand square kilometers of 3-Dimensional (3D) seismic data.

Yang Hua, Chairman and CEO of the Company, commented: "In 2017, we will balance both short-term and mid to long-term development, pursue quality growth, increase profitability-oriented production volume in order to bring better return for our investors."