Suizhong 36-1/Luda 5-2 Oilfield SAD Project, China

Suizhong 36-1/Luda 5-2 Oilfield Secondary Adjustment and Development Project is located in Liaodong Bay of Bohai Sea, China.

The project represents the largest secondary development and adjustment project in offshore China.

It is fully owned and operated by China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC). The offshore oilfield project commenced production in February 2024.

Besides this, CNOOC is slated to bring Bozhong 19-2 Oilfield Development Project, Shenhai-1 Phase II Natural Gas Development Project and Huizhou 26-6 Oilfield Development Project on stream in the same year.

Suizhong 36-1 Oilfield Details

Suizhong 36-1 Oilfield is the largest independently operated offshore oilfield in China. The offshore field serves as the main oilfield of China’s largest crude oil producer Bohai oilfield.

It is located around 46km off the coast in the northern part of Bohai Bay within the Liaohe subbasin. The water depth in the area is around 30m.

The field was discovered in 1986 and it commenced production in 1993.

Production from the second phase began in 2000, while Suizhong 36-1 Phase II adjustment project became on stream in October 2013. The adjustment project involved building four new platforms, along with the utilisation of existing facilities.

Suizhong 36-1 produces heavy oil with a crude gravity of 14 to 19° American Petroleum Institute (API). It hosts a geological oil reserve of more than 300 million tonnes.

In June 2024, Suizhong 36-1 became the first offshore field in China to achieve the milestone of producing more than 100 million tonnes of crude oil.

At peak, it produced more than five million tonnes of crude oil annually.

Overall, it has 24 offshore platforms and 545 oil wells. Daily crude oil output, as of 2024, ranges around 8,900 tonnes.

In its 30 years of production, Suizhong 36-1 Oilfield delivered a recovery factor of 33.9% in developed blocks. CNOOC has also performed water injection to address the rising water-cut and overcome the challenges of extracting oil from a field located in the northern ice zone.

Luda Cluster Details

The Luda Cluster in the Bohai Bay features multiple heavy oil fields. This includes Luda 4-2, 5-2, 10-1, 27-2, 21-1, 5-2N and 6-2 among others.

Several fields commenced operations recently. The Luda 6-2 oilfield achieved its first oil in August 2021.

Luda 5-2 oilfield north phase I project, at an average water depth of about 32m, began operations in April 2022. The development included one thermal recovery wellhead platform and one production adjective platform.

It is expected to include a total of 28 development wells, including 26 production wells and 2 water source wells. The project will produce around 8,200 barrels of crude oil per day at peak.

Suizhong 36-1/Luda 5-2 Oilfield SAD Project Development

Suizhong 36-1/Luda 5-2 Oilfield Secondary Adjustment and Development Project is located at a water depth of 30m.

The project was planned to further tap the oilfield potential and contain a decline in production.

The production facilities include two central processing platforms and two wellhead platforms.

A total of 118 development wells are planned, including 81 production wells and 37 water injection wells.

In 2025, production is expected to reach 30,300 barrels of crude oil per day.

CNOOC is expected to achieve a net production of 700 million to 720 million barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) in 2024. Chinese assets will account for around 69% of this production.