Zhongyuan Oilfield
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Tender issued on 4 shale gas blocks
BEIJING - China issued its first shale gas exploration tender with an offer of four blocks to a group of Chinese energy companies, state media reported, as the country kicks off its search for potentially vast reserves of the resource. The tender result will be announced in July and China plans to hold another similar auction in the second half of the year, said Zhang Dawei of the oil and gas strategy center of the Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR), a key government agency behind the shale resource push. In March, the US Energy Information Agency estimated that China holds 36.1 trillion cubic meters (cu m) of technically recoverable shale gas reserve - significantly higher than US reserves of 24.4 trillion cu m, the next largest. Related readings: Tender issued on 4 shale gas blocks China to speed up shale gas development Tender issued on 4 shale gas blocks Shale gas lures oil majors Tender issued on 4 shale gas blocks PetroChina, Shell starts drilling shale gas well in Sichuan Tender issued on 4 shale gas blocks China to auction 8 shale gas blocks in Q1 Industry estimates in China peg shale gas resources slightly lower - but still huge - at 26 trillion cu m, although they have yet to give their own forecasts of how much of that is recoverable. The blocks in the tender are mostly in the southwestern Chongqing municipality and Guizhou province and cover an area of 11,000 square kilometers, smaller than an earlier announced plan to offer eight blocks with an area of 18,000 sq km. The Ministry of Land and Resources issued the tender on Monday to PetroChina Co Ltd, China Petroleum and Chemical Corp (Sinopec), CNOOC Ltd, Shaanxi Yanchang Petroleum Group and two coal seam gas companies, Xinhua News Agency said on its website. "By reducing the number of blocks on offer, we're hoping to bring about more intense competition," said Zhang at MLR, adding that the companies had submitted their bids with results likely to be due in early July. The auction comes several months later than expected as the ministry was trying to bring more companies, such as Sinochem Corp and Zhenhua Oil, into the competing round. Zhang said these firms were not in the first tender but might emerge as bidders in future auctions. Though still in an early stage, China's shale gas industry has attracted the attention of global energy companies such as Royal Dutch Shell Plc, BP Plc and US independents such as Hess Corp and Newfield Exploration Co. Officials have said the shale gas tenders would be open only to Chinese companies, but foreign companies were welcome to enter into partnerships with the winners. The auction also offered a possible chance for CNOOC Ltd, said an offshore oil specialist, to expand into Chinese onshore gas plays. CNOOC Ltd was the first Chinese energy company to land shale gas deals overseas, getting stake acquisitions of drilling acreages of the US independent company Chesapeake Energy Corp. Two other bidders in the auction were China United Coal Bed Methane Co and Henan Provincial Coal Seam Gas Development and Utilization Co. China United Coal Bed Methane Co is controlled by CNOOC Ltd's parent, China National Offshore Oil Corp. China, soon to overtake the United States as the world's top energy user and already the world's biggest coal burner, is eager to boost the use of cleaner natural gas to tame the growth of coal. Industry estimates in China put shale gas resources at 26 trillion cu m, smaller than the US estimate but still huge, though China has yet to give its own estimate of how much of that is recoverable. For now, China does not have any shale gas production. Its total gas output, mostly from conventional reservoirs and tight gas deposits, was about 94 billion cu m in 2010, a volume set to triple to 300 billion cu m in 2030, Chinese oil companies have estimated. Reuters
Abducted Chinese workers are safe
Beijing - Two Chinese oil workers who were abducted by tribesmen in Yemen over the weekend are in good condition and negotiations with the kidnappers are underway, embassy officials said. Armed Yemeni tribesmen in the southeastern province of Shabwa took the two Chinese men hostage along with four Yemeni escorts - two guards and two drivers - on Sunday. "The abduction was triggered by some conflicts between local tribesmen and the Yemeni government," Chen Jian, political counselor of the Chinese embassy in Sanaa told China Daily. The two Chinese men are employed by Zhongyuan Oilfield Company, Chinese Ambassador to Yemen Liu Denglin was quoted by Xinhua as saying. Headquartered in Henan province, the company is a major oil and gas producer in eastern China, and the biggest well drilling contractor in Yemen. The company told China Daily that it is trying to confirm the news, while Chen said he has talked with Yemeni officials. "The two Chinese workers are in good condition. They called their employers in the middle of the day today and said the locals are friendly to them," Chen said. He told China Daily that negotiations with the kidnappers are proceeding. "Our top priority now is to ensure a safe release of the hostages." The six workers were to stay in a local inn on Sunday night, Xinhua reported. The site of the kidnapping is in the area of al-Kamoush tribe, near al-Lahya district, where such incidents happen often. A local senior security official told Xinhua that the workers were abducted early Sunday afternoon, but the case was not complicated. Reuters reported that the abductors were trying to pressure authorities in a local criminal dispute, using the Chinese as bargaining chips. Tribesmen have often detained foreigners in the Arabian Peninsula country to press for demands from authorities, the agency said. On the same day of the kidnapping, Yemeni Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi called for Chinese companies to visit the country and to investigate investment opportunities in industries such as tourism, reported Yemeni news agency Saba. The minister made the comment in Shanghai on the sidelines of the ministerial meeting of the Arab-China Cooperation Forum that took place in Tianjin last week.
Xinxiang poised for economic take-off
In ancient times, Xinxiang county, lying in the center of the northern Henan Plateau, with the Taihang Mountains to the north and the Yellow River to the south, was hailed as a place of "success and prosperity". That epithet still holds good for the 375 sq km county that is home to 327,000 people and includes six townships and the Xinxiang Economic Development Area. Long history Xinxiang is associated with many historical figures. Emperor Zhouwu, the second emperor of the Western Zhou Dynasty (c. 11th century-771 BC) laid the foundation of the Zhou Kingdom, after a successful battle there. Emperor Hanwu, the second and the most important emperor of the Western Han Dynasty (206BC-AD24), was also victorious in battle and is credited with establishing the county. During the Sui Dynasty (AD 581-618), Central China was unified and Xinxiang county, as we know it today, came into being. The county remained in the spotlight after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. Chairman Mao Zedong once paid a visit to Qiliying in the county. A map of the four major industrial areas of Xinxiang In the past 50 years or so, many national and Party leaders have inspected the county and some 100 foreign groups have made a visit. The county is also the birthplace of many of the nation's model workers including Liu Zhuang, Jing Hua and Long Quan. Since China's reform and opening-up in the late 1970s, it has been listed as a model county in these respects. The county has consistently ranked ahead of others in the city of Xinxiang for many years in terms of overall economic strength. In 2005, it ranked 17th in terms of overall comprehensive development in Henan Province. Rapid growth Located 50 km from Zhengzhou, capital of Henan, and adjacent to the urban areas of the city of Xinxiang, the county is now an important base for the city's economic take-off and plays an important role in the Zhengzhou-Xinxiang Industrial Belt. The Beijing-Guangzhou Railway, the Beijing-Zhuhai Expressway, the State Highway 107 and the Xinxiang-Jiaozuo, Xinxiang-Heze railways all cross the county. The Zhengzhou-Yellow River rail line is expected to greatly shorten the distance between Xinxiang and Zhengzhou after completion. The county is located just an hour of driving from the Zhengzhou International Airport. It now serves as a key logistics hub for the Zhongyuan Oilfield and Jiaozuo Coal Mine, and is also an important passageway for the transportation of coal in Shanxi Province. In addition, it is a key base for power transmission in Central China, with nine high-voltage power sub-stations and two power switch stations. The county's power generation capacity is expected to reach 720 million kilowatts-hours per year. The county also boasts abundant water resources, and is crucial to the South-to-North Water Diversion Project and Introducing Yellow River Water to Tianjin Project. After years of steady development, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, machinery, textiles and paper-making have emerged as the key industrial pillars of the county. Vibration machinery and bronze material processing are two industries that the county is uniquely positioned to support. It supports 12 provincial-level hi-tech enterprises and 35 enterprises have an annual industrial output of more than 100 million yuan. In a bid to improve the infrastructure of the four industrial areas in the county, 133 projects in road, transportation, water supply, power, communication and housing were implemented last year, involving a total investment of 1.25 billion yuan. A state-of-the-art waste-water treatment plant has been put into service, with a daily waste-water treatment capacity of 60,000 tons. The first phase of a water supply plant with a daily water supply capacity of 80,000 tons is now under construction. The county offers an optimal investment climate for both domestic and foreign investors.
Knowledge Graph
Examples
1 The tentative application of this method to deep seismic data interpretation in the Zhongyuan oilfield yielded some useful results
2 The Zhongyuan oilfield in Henan has polluted over 1, 700 hectares of adjacent farmland, according to a preliminary calculation by Henan Agricultural University in 2002.
3 Zhongyuan oilfield is many oilfield.