Beijing : China National Petroleum and Chevron have announced that they may delay output at a Sichuan gas block, the Chinese producer's biggest onshore energy-exploration venture with a foreign company, to the second half of next year.
Initial production at the Chuandongbei block may be pushed back from this year because of "operational reasons" Yan Cunzhang, President of International Cooperation Administration at China National, said yesterday, without going into detail.
Chinese energy producers are stepping up gas exploration to meet demand from the world's fastest-growing major economy, and a government mandate to boost the use of the cleaner-burning fuel. The Chuandongbei area in the southwestern province of Sichuan may hold five trillion cubic feet (140 billion cubic metres) of natural gas, almost double China's 2008 annual output, Chevron said in 2007.
The block has proven gas reserves of 176 billion cubic metres, Yan said. Initial output may reach nine million cubic metres a day, he added.
China National, the parent of Hong Kong-listed PetroChina, plans to increase output at Chuandongbei to six billion cubic metres a year, or 16 million cubic metres a day, before 2015, Yan said.
A second-phase expansion is awaiting approval from the National Development and Reform Commission, the country's top economic planner.
Chevron, which is based in San Ramon in California, signed a 30-year exploration and production accord with China National on Chuandongbei in 2007. The region covers nearly 2,000 square kilometres.
