CNOOC Limited has announced that CNOOC China Limited, its subsidiary, has signed a Cooperation Framework Agreement with China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec Corp.) regarding the sea areas of Bohai, Beibu Gulf and South Yellow Sea, as well as North Jiangsu basin.

The Cooperation Framework Agreement will be implemented in three years through joint study, joint exploration and facility sharing in multiple sea areas. Under the framework, both parties have signed three joint study agreements, namely, “Joint Study Agreement on Bohai basin,” “Joint Study Agreement on North Jiangsu basin and South Yellow Sea basin” and “Joint Study Agreement on Beibu Gulf basin.” Both parties will share data and carry out innovative joint studies in the Yellow River Mouth Sag, the Qingdong Sag and the eastern part of Bodong Sag in the Bohai basin, as well as southwestern Weizhou and Xuwen areas of Beibu Gulf basin, the North Jiangsu basin and the blocks in eastern South Yellow Sea basin (involving 19 prospecting rights and approximately 26,900 km2 altogether). The expenditures incurred for the joint studies shall not be recovered from the costs of any petroleum contract that may be signed in the

future. During the joint study period, the exploration, development and production operation of both parties in their respective prospecting rights areas will not be affected.This cooperation will promote the distribution of sedimentary facies belts and enhance the understanding of the regularity of hydrocarbon accumulation in cooperative blocks and potential structures in the basins in order to make the optimization of potential exploration zones and targets more scientific, reduce exploration risks and improve the success rate of exploration wells.

Source: www.worldoil.com