Premium Content
By Charles Kennedy – Oct 02, 2025, 5:00 PM CDT
- China’s subsea pipeline network has expanded to 10,000 kilometers, a key achievement in the nation’s strategy to increase domestic oil and gas production and lessen its dependence on energy imports.
- CNOOC, China’s state energy major, is at the forefront of this expansion, with significant projects in the Bohai Sea and South China Sea, including the Kenli 10-2 field and Phase 2 of the Deep-Sea No. 1 natural gas project.
- Despite record-breaking production in previous years, CNOOC has revised its production targets lower for the coming years, focusing on production maintenance and expanding natural gas reserves as part of a transition to cleaner hydrocarbons.
China’s network of subsea pipelines has reached a total length of 10,000 kilometers, CNOOC reported this week. The news was hailed by media as a milestone in offshore oil and gas development in the world’s largest importer of energy commodities as it seeks to change that status.
China has been working to boost its domestic oil and gas production, both onshore and offshore, to reduce its reliance on imports, which, in crude oil, topped 12 million barrels daily earlier in the year. The pipeline network milestone is part of those efforts, with a view to an energy transition, no less.
“The total subsea pipeline length is planned to exceed 13,000km by 2030, further strengthening the country’s offshore energy transport network,” CNOOC said in its pipeline network report, as cited by the South China Morning Post. That network, however, will not only be used to transport oil and natural gas. It could at some point be switched to things like hydrogen and shale gas, per the SCMP report.
The densest part of the pipeline network is in China’s biggest offshore oil and gas producing region, in the Bohai Sea and more specifically the Bohai Bay, per CNOOC. The area contains 3,200 miles of pipelines, the offshore oil and gas developer said.
It was in the Bohai Sea that CNOOC recently launched a new project, as well. Dubbed Kenli 10-2, the field is the largest shallow-water deposit offshore China. The project in the southern Bohai Sea will see 79 development wells commissioned, including 33 cold recovery wells, 24 thermal recovery wells, 21 water injection wells, and 1 water source well. CNOOC said it expected the project to achieve peak production of about 19,400 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2026. The oil in the reservoir is heavy crude.
Also this year, CNOOC announced a couple of production startups in the South China Sea. At one of them, Wenchang 16-2 Oilfield Development Project, the company plans to drill 15 production wells, for a peak production of 11,200 barrels daily by 2027. The other recently started project was Phase 2 of the Deep-Sea No. 1 natural gas project in the South China Sea, boosting domestic output by 4.5 billion cubic meters per year. The project, China’s largest deepwater gas development to date, officially reached full capacity on June 26, according to CNOOC officials.
CNOOC, which is Beijing’s state energy major for offshore oil and gas development both in China and internationally, reported earlier this year that its net oil and gas production for 2024 was about 720 million barrels of oil equivalent—setting a record high for the sixth consecutive year. It also booked a profit jump of 11.4% for 2024, to $19 billion, on the back of the record-breaking production rate.
For this year, however, CNOOC seems to be taking a break from strong growth, focusing instead on production maintenance, with capital expenditure set to be left unchanged from 2024 levels. The company did say, however, it would work on expanding the country’s natural gas reserves as part of its transition away from coal to cleaner hydrocarbons.
Yet CNOOC’s production targets for this year and the next two were revised lower at the start of this year, likely in response to indications of weakening demand growth in crude oil. Even so, the company still expects to keep breaking production records in both oil and gas. The net production target for this year is 760 million to 780 million barrels of oil equivalent, of which the production from China and overseas accounts for approximately 69% and 31%, respectively. That’s lower than the previous target for 780 million to 800 million boe for 2025, but still an increase on 2024.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
More Top Reads From Oilprice.com
- LNG Demand for Marine Fuel Set to Skyrocket by 2030
- India’s Diesel Flows to Europe Jump to All-Time High
- Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Eyes Occidental’s OxyChem in $10 Billion Deal
Download The Free Oilprice App Today
Related posts
Premium Content
By Charles Kennedy – Oct 02, 2025, 5:00 PM CDT
- China’s subsea pipeline network has expanded to 10,000 kilometers, a key achievement in the nation’s strategy to increase domestic oil and gas production and lessen its dependence on energy imports.
- CNOOC, China’s state energy major, is at the forefront of this expansion, with significant projects in the Bohai Sea and South China Sea, including the Kenli 10-2 field and Phase 2 of the Deep-Sea No. 1 natural gas project.
- Despite record-breaking production in previous years, CNOOC has revised its production targets lower for the coming years, focusing on production maintenance and expanding natural gas reserves as part of a transition to cleaner hydrocarbons.
China’s network of subsea pipelines has reached a total length of 10,000 kilometers, CNOOC reported this week. The news was hailed by media as a milestone in offshore oil and gas development in the world’s largest importer of energy commodities as it seeks to change that status.
China has been working to boost its domestic oil and gas production, both onshore and offshore, to reduce its reliance on imports, which, in crude oil, topped 12 million barrels daily earlier in the year. The pipeline network milestone is part of those efforts, with a view to an energy transition, no less.
“The total subsea pipeline length is planned to exceed 13,000km by 2030, further strengthening the country’s offshore energy transport network,” CNOOC said in its pipeline network report, as cited by the South China Morning Post. That network, however, will not only be used to transport oil and natural gas. It could at some point be switched to things like hydrogen and shale gas, per the SCMP report.
The densest part of the pipeline network is in China’s biggest offshore oil and gas producing region, in the Bohai Sea and more specifically the Bohai Bay, per CNOOC. The area contains 3,200 miles of pipelines, the offshore oil and gas developer said.
It was in the Bohai Sea that CNOOC recently launched a new project, as well. Dubbed Kenli 10-2, the field is the largest shallow-water deposit offshore China. The project in the southern Bohai Sea will see 79 development wells commissioned, including 33 cold recovery wells, 24 thermal recovery wells, 21 water injection wells, and 1 water source well. CNOOC said it expected the project to achieve peak production of about 19,400 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2026. The oil in the reservoir is heavy crude.
Also this year, CNOOC announced a couple of production startups in the South China Sea. At one of them, Wenchang 16-2 Oilfield Development Project, the company plans to drill 15 production wells, for a peak production of 11,200 barrels daily by 2027. The other recently started project was Phase 2 of the Deep-Sea No. 1 natural gas project in the South China Sea, boosting domestic output by 4.5 billion cubic meters per year. The project, China’s largest deepwater gas development to date, officially reached full capacity on June 26, according to CNOOC officials.
CNOOC, which is Beijing’s state energy major for offshore oil and gas development both in China and internationally, reported earlier this year that its net oil and gas production for 2024 was about 720 million barrels of oil equivalent—setting a record high for the sixth consecutive year. It also booked a profit jump of 11.4% for 2024, to $19 billion, on the back of the record-breaking production rate.
For this year, however, CNOOC seems to be taking a break from strong growth, focusing instead on production maintenance, with capital expenditure set to be left unchanged from 2024 levels. The company did say, however, it would work on expanding the country’s natural gas reserves as part of its transition away from coal to cleaner hydrocarbons.
Yet CNOOC’s production targets for this year and the next two were revised lower at the start of this year, likely in response to indications of weakening demand growth in crude oil. Even so, the company still expects to keep breaking production records in both oil and gas. The net production target for this year is 760 million to 780 million barrels of oil equivalent, of which the production from China and overseas accounts for approximately 69% and 31%, respectively. That’s lower than the previous target for 780 million to 800 million boe for 2025, but still an increase on 2024.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
More Top Reads From Oilprice.com
- LNG Demand for Marine Fuel Set to Skyrocket by 2030
- India’s Diesel Flows to Europe Jump to All-Time High
- Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Eyes Occidental’s OxyChem in $10 Billion Deal
Download The Free Oilprice App Today
