China National Offshore Oil Corp, one of the country's top three oil and gas producers, said on Monday that its newly discovered Bozhong 13-2 oil and gas field in the Bohai Sea contains proven geological reserves of 100 million metric tons of oil and gas equivalent, making it one of biggest crude oil production bases in the country.

The new field is expected to play a pivotal role in helping the company produce 40 million tons of crude from the Bohai oilfield during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25), according to Zhou Xinhuai, general manager of the oil exploration department at CNOOC.

Zhou said the Bohai oilfield is likely to start production in 2023 and achieve a peak output of 1.2 million tons of oil equivalent.

According to industry experts, the Bohai Sea natural gas and oil finds will boost CNOOC's annual output to above 80 million tons of oil equivalent by 2025.

Cao Xinjian, Party secretary and general manager of CNOOC Tianjin, said the company is beefing up efforts to produce 30 million tons of crude oil and 3 billion cubic meters of natural gas this year. During the first quarter, the company will start three major projects including large and medium-sized oilfield development and stabilize the oil output volume.

The new find is located 140 kilometers off the coast of Tianjin at an average water depth of 23.2 meters, Zhou said. The Bozhong 13-2-2 well, where the reserve was discovered, was drilled and completed at a depth of 5,223 meters, and encountered oil pay zones with a total thickness of approximately 346 meters.

The well was tested to produce an average of approximately 1,980 barrels of crude oil per day. The company expects daily crude oil and natural gas generation from the well to reach 300 tons and 150,000 cu m at a later date, said Zhou.

In 2019, the company said its Bohai Sea finds contain 100 billion cu m of proven geological reserves of natural gas. It said the increased capacity from the new finds will help meet the surging demand for natural gas in northern and eastern China and reduce the country's reliance on costly imports.

Last year, China's natural gas production reached 188.8 billion cu m, up 9.8 percent on a yearly basis, according to data provided by the National Bureau of Statistics. During the same period, natural gas imports rose to 102 million cubic meters, up by 5.3 percent on a yearly basis.

According to China Energy News, natural gas output in China is expected to be between 420 billion cu m and 450 billion cu m by 2025.

In May 2020, CNOOC said it would invest 26.4 billion yuan ($4 billion) to increase its production capacity in Tianjin. The company said the funds were mainly used for oil exploration, natural gas pipeline construction, terminal sales as well as for efficient use of the energy.