ChevronTexaco Ships First Oil Cargo From China's Bohai Oilfield

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, December 13, 2001

ChevronTexaco Ships First Oil Cargo From China's Bohai Oilfield

ChevronTexaco announced Wednesday that it has shipped 500,000 barrels of 16.9-degree gravity API crude from the QHD 32-6 oilfield, 130 km east of Tianjin in China's Bohai Bay, for tanker transport to international markets.

ChevronTexaco, the fourth largest global company in oil and natural gas production, said Wednesday in San Francisco that it has shipped first cargo of crude oil from the QHD 32-6 oilfield, 130 km east of Tianjin in China's Bohai Bay.

'Important Milestone'

Calling it "an important milestone" development, the company said that 500,000 barrels of 16.9-degree gravity API crude were off-loaded from a floating, processing, storage and offloading vessel for tanker transport to international markets.

The QHD crude is very low in sulfur and the newest crude oil on the Asian market, the San Francisco-based company said.

"We anticipate the significant growth of production volumes of this type of crude from the Bohai Gulf area within the next five years, making this oil an important new energy source for Asia," managing director of ChevronTexaco's China strategic business unit Sam Snyder said in a statement.

More Wells, More Barrels

According to the company, current development of the QHD 32-6 oilfield consists of 46 production wells aboard two wellhead platforms, with production transported to the vessel through a single-point mooring system.

First production flowed from the field beginning October 8 of this year. Current production from the field is 29,000 barrels of oil per day. Full field development, with estimated average production of 65,000 barrels per day, is expected by October 2002, enabled by the installation of up to 160 wells from six platform structures.

Early Bird

The QHD 32-6 field was discovered in 20 meters of water by China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) in 1995. Partners in the field include the operator, CNOOC Itd., with a 51-percent interest, and ChevronTexaco and BP, each with 24.5 percent.

Since 1979, predecessor companies Chevron and Texaco have invested in a number of energy projects in China. ChevronTexaco is a partner in one of the first offshore oil production projects in the Pearl River Mouth Basin area of the South China Sea.

Qinhuangdao 32-6(QHD 32-6)

QHD 32-6 is located in the central to northern part of Bohai Bay, 130 km from the city of Tianjin. It holds a recoverable reserve of 103 million barrels net to the Company. The development of QHD 32-6 includes 6 producing wellhead platforms. The development planned for this year is consisted of wellhead platform A and B, a single point moor and an FPSO.

QHD 32-6 is jointly owned by CNOOC Limited (51%), Texaco (24.5%) and BP (24.5%). CNOOC Limited is the operator. The overall development is expected to complete in 2002. The designed peak capacity of the entire field is over 65,000 barrels per day.

ChevronTexaco's Business

ChevronTexaco is the fourth largest publicly traded company in terms of oil and gas reserves, with some 11.5 billion barrels of oil and gas equivalent. It is the fourth largest producer, with daily production of 2.7 million barrels. The company also has 22 refineries and more than 25,000 branded service stations worldwide.

ChevronTexaco businesses extend beyond producing and refining, with a chemicals venture, Chevron Phillips Chemicals Co., an interest in Dynegy Inc., and equity interests in 47 power projects worldwide. The company also looks to the future through the development and commercialization of several advanced energy technologies such as fuel cells, hydrogen storage and gas-to-liquids.

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