CPC's overseas fields: location and development model –
exclusive or cooperative
CPC plans to annually purchase 2.0 million tons of LNG from Shell's Prelude
gas field for a period of 20 years from 2016. In addition to its 5% interest in
this floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) project, CPC plans to acquire other
assets in the form of upstream oil and gas fields.
CPC has carried out exploration in its own right. Five exploratory wells have
been drilled in the BCO III/BCS 11/BLT I blocks in Chad; oil and gas have
been discovered in two of them and a confirmatory drilling is being planned.
Two exploratory wells were drilled in Libya's Murzuq 162 Block and both
turned out to be dry. The outbreak of civil war forced CPC's local subsidiary
to suspend operations; continuing unrest means that operations have not
yet been resumed and one obligatory well has not yet been completed.
CPC is currently conducting cooperative operations in seven widely-
separated locations: the Patolon-1 exploratory well in Myanmar's D Block
has been completed, but showed no signs of oil or gas. In Congo (Brazzaville),
two exploratory wells were drilled in the Haute Mer A area - one was dry and
the other is being tested for oil and gas. In Indonesia, CPC continues drilling
further exploratory wells in the Sanga Sanga coal bed methane field, which
currently produces approximately 10,000 m³ of methane daily for supplying
local power plants. Current plans call for the drilling of one exploratory well
each in Indonesia's Bulungan field and Australia's AC/P21 field by the end of
2014; and CPC is currently drilling in two fields in the USA.
In the case of two CPC-owned offshore fields in Venezuela - Gulf of Paria
East and West - the government has implemented a nationalization policy
and expropriated CPC's holdings. The case was submitted to international
arbitration and it was ruled that Venezuela's national oil company must
compensate CPC for its lost investment.
│
9
│
Upstream Operations
