The field in the
The estimated output is equivalent to 5.4 per cent of
The find comes amid intense exploration by
Such a field, if confirmed, would be a "world-scalediscovery", Gavin Thompson, an oil consultant based in
"In terms of energy security, a 2 billion barreldiscovery is going to be very welcome, not only to PetroChina but to
Jiang Jiemin, vice-chairman and president of PetroChina,said it was "the largest find in
The Nanpu block in
Leading importer
CNOOC, another leading energy company,announced this week that it had also discovered new oil and gas fields in
Zhu Weilin, vice-president of CNOOC, said of the discovery:"We hope to develop a large-scale cluster of oil and gas fields [there] inthe future."
It is now the world's second largest energy consumer afterthe
The country met almost half of its energy needs throughimported fuel in 2006 with oil consumption rising by 9.3 per cent to 2.4billion barrels.
Easing the pressure
Jim Brock, an industry consultant in
Economists say Chinese oil demand, driven by economic growththat reached 10.7 per cent in 2006, has strained world supplies and pushed upprices.
The government is trying to improve the energy efficiency ofits economy, which consumes several times more units of energy per unit ofoutput than
Although Chinese drillers have found several big gas fields,the Bohai discovery is the first major oil find since the mid-1990s.
Source:Agencies
Güncelleme Tarihi: 20 Eylül 2018, 18:16