Development journey and outlook of Chinese giant oilfields

Over 70% of Chinaʹs domestic oil production is obtained from 9 giant oilfields. Understanding the behaviour of these fields is essential to both domestic oil production and future Chinese oil imports. This study utilizes decline curves and depletion rate analysis to create some future production outlooks for the Chinese giant oilfields. We can conclude that Chinaʹs future domestic oil production faces a significant challenge caused by maturing and declining giant fields. Evidence also indicates that the extensive use of water flooding and enhanced oil recovery methods may be masking increasing scarcity and may result in even steeper future decline rates than the ones currently being seen. The Chinese petroleum industry has managed to keep many of their giants on a production plateau for many decades. However, nothing can change the eventual onset of decline in oilfields and many of the Chinese giants have already passed their peak production levels. Our results suggest that a considerable drop in oil production from the Chinese giant oilfields can be expected over the next decades.