Canada’s Husky Energy Inc announced yesterday it had discovered a significant deepwater gas reserve with its Chinese partner CNOOC (中國海洋石油), renewing exploration hopes in the South China Sea.
Based on preliminary analysis of drilling results, the discovery could provide more than 140 million cubic feet (4 million cubic meters) of natural gas a day, the energy company said in a statement.
“This exciting exploration discovery ... is a significant milestone towards our goal of strategic commercial development and production from this promising area,” Husky CEO and president John Lau (劉錢崧) said.
CNOOC Ltd, the Hong Kong-listed unit of CNOOC, confirmed the discovery in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange.
The discovery, in the mouth of the Pearl River about 250km south of Hong Kong, will nearly double Husky’s potential output rate in the area.
Exploration efforts in the South China Sea have largely disappointed since Husky found an estimated 4 to 6 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas reserves in June 2006, with wells turning up dry and foreign companies returning blocs to CNOOC.
Most recently, US oil producer Devon Energy Corp said it wanted to sell its three deepwater blocks in the South China Sea as part of a broader pullout to focus on its onshore assets in North America. Devon did not find commercial quantities of crude oil or gas in a block next to where Husky made its 2006 discovery and latest find.
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