Roc Oil (China), a wholly owned subsidiary of Roc, said Wednesday that the final phase of construction and development drilling for the WZ6-12 and WZ12-18 West Oil Field Development areas have started.
 
The final phase, Roc said in a statement, follows from the conclusion of the project's exploration drilling phase and receipt of approval from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) on the Beibu Project Overall Development Plan. Roc, together with the partners of the project, added that they are aiming to produce first oil in early 2013, and ramp the project up to peak production by the middle of next year.
 
Construction and installation of the infrastructure at the WZ6-12 and WZ12-18 oilfield development is now 89 percent complete, and development drilling has started after a successful three well exploration and appraisal program. Commissioning of the WZ12-18 wellhead platform is completed, while hook-up and commissioning of the WZ6-12 platform will be finished within the month.
 
The production from the WZ6-12 and WZ12-18 fields will be connected through a pipeline to CNOOC's WZ12-1 producing platform complex. Oil, gas and water will be separated through CNOOC-Zhanjiang's WZ12-1 production and pipeline facilities.
 
Oil from the Beibu fields will be stored at facilities on Weizhou Island prior to commercial sales, while the gas will be utilized into the CNOOC's transportation system.
 
The Beibu Gulf project consists of three fields; WZ 6-12, WZ 6-12S and WZ12-18, all of the three fields situated on Block 22/12, offshore China. The partners in the CNOOC-operated project are: CNOOC (51%), Horizon Oil (Beibu)/Horizon Oil (Nanhai) (26.95%), Roc Oil (China) (19.6%) and Oil Australia (Maiuko Corp) (2.45%).
 
CNOOC declared the area to the commercially viable in September 2008.