On August 28, CNOOC announced that it has started to implement the first carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) demonstration project offshore China. 

The offshore CCUS project is an affiliate project of Enping 15-1 oilfield group, which will permanently store approximately 1.46 million tons of carbon dioxide in the reservoir of the Pearl River Mouth Basin in the South China Sea, equivalent to planting nearly 14 million trees or stopping nearly 1 million cars.

Enping 15-1 oilfield is a high-carbon-dioxide field in the eastern South China Sea. Since the beginning of 2021, CNOOC has carried out a series of studies on geological reservoirs and key technologies of well drilling and completion and engineering integration that are suitable for offshore carbon dioxide storage. 

Through this offshore CCUS project, the company has successfully developed a set of offshore carbon dioxide capture, treatment, injection, storage and monitoring technologies and equipment, which has opened up a new course of carbon dioxide storage in the Chinese oil and gas industry.

At present, the domestic carbon dioxide storage projects are mainly carried out onshore. With the goal to make a breakthrough in the offshore CCUS field and form an industry-specific CCUS technological system, CNOOC has implemented a series of technological and engineering layouts, while conducting researches in fields of offshore carbon dioxide storage potential assessment, carbon dioxide capture and transportation, carbon dioxide storage safety and leakage risk monitoring, etc.