China's sole offshore oil operator told the Chinese media it will build chemical plants in Hainan that will use natural gas as fuel by taking advantage of gas from the Dongfang 1-1 gas field in the South China Sea.
The Dongfang field, which is currently under development, is said to hold 99.7 billion cubic metres of proven gas reserves. CNOOC said development of the field will cost about 3.3 billion yuan and should be completed this year.
Operations at the field are scheduled to begin in the second half of this year, at an initial flow of 2.4 billion to 2.8 billion cubic metres a year.
CNOOC recently won governmental approval to build a 600,000-metric-ton-a-year methanol plant in Hainan at a cost of 1.1 billion yuan. The company expects to start construction of the plant this year and complete it in 2005.
