China joins world's elite offshore energy club

Beijing, Jan 5 (ANI): China has become a part of the world's elite club of offshore oil producers following China National Offshore Oil Corporation's (CNOOC) announcement that its oil and natural gas output surpassed 60 million metric tons in 2010.

The China Daily quoted CNOOC President Fu Chengyu as saying that the country's largest offshore oil explorer's oil and gas production last year totalled 64.13 million metric tons of oil equivalent, of which 50 million was produced domestically.

"It marks a milestone that China has become one of the world's largest offshore oil producers after the United States, the United Kingdom, and Norway ... And the marine petrochemical industry will boost the country's energy supply," Fu said.

China's growing energy demand has led the nation's foreign oil dependence ratio to reach a new high of 55 percent in 2010.

According to Wang Jiacheng, a researcher at the Academy of Macroeconomic Research under the National Development and Reform Commission, 60 percent of China's oil consumption will be imported by 2020.

Meanwhile, Fu also said that the country's gas and oil output is expected to exceed 200 million metric tons of oil equivalent by 2020, including 50 million tons of LNG (liquefied natural gas).

The world's offshore oil detection rate is 73 percent on average, while in China the rate is only 12.3 percent.

Zhou Shouwei, Vice President of CNOOC, said: "We'll speed up technology innovation to develop more homegrown equipment to meet a need for deepwater exploration," adding that the company has also focused on deepwater drilling safety. (ANI)