Early in May, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) announced its discovery of the Jidong Nanpu Oilfield in Bohai Bay, near Tangshan City, north China's Hebei Province. The oilfield, boasting a reserve of 1 billion tons, is the largest found in the country for 40 years.

Discovery of such a major oilfield offers more flexibility and initiative for China to realize its energy strategy aimed at stabilization in the East and development in the West. A steady increase of crude oil output and sustainable development of oil industry will be of great significance to maintain China's energy supply in the long term. Meanwhile, the Bohai Bay Economic Zone, in which the oil was found, will be vigorously promoted in terms of social and economic development.

The Jidong Nanpu Oilfield, partly offshore in Caofeidian Port, Hebei Province, is geologically located in the basin of the Bohai Bay, and is an exploitation project of CNPC's Jidong oilfield company.

The oil and gas exploitation in the Jidong area, launched in 1988, had no substantial discovery for 14 years. That was until 2002, when CNPC adjusted its plan to reinforce geological analysis and precision seismic anisotropy exploration by the utilization of a series of advanced technologies. The innovative system has helped resolve a number of difficulties and problems in the process. By September 2004, a pool with a 700-cubic-meter daily output was found in Ordovician. Following this, another four pools equivalent of a reserve of 1.02 billion tons were discovered, including 405.07 million tons demonstrated and 298.34 million tons controlled reserves of oil, and 140.1 cubic meters of natural gas.

Nanpu block is a well-equipped and efficient pool with superb oil quality. It enjoys a huge natural reserve of 5.07 million tons per thousand square meters at around 1,800-2,800 meters below the sea. It is a rich reservoir with an average 80-100 meters in each well, which can produce 80-100 tons vertically and 200-500 tons horizontally per day.

Jia Chengzao, a renowned oil geologist with the Chinese Academy of Sciences predicted more discoveries at the Bohai Bay following Nanpu, expecting a rapid increase of Jidong's entire output volume.

CNPC pledged that it will take a scientific concept at the development and exploration of Nanpu in the hopes of establishing a clean and modern oilfield in harmony with its surroundings.

(China.org.cn)