China National Offshore Oil Corp. has started production at the Dongfang 1-1 gas field’s first-phase adjustment project ahead of schedule.

The field lies in the Yinggehai Basin in the South China Sea’s Beibu Gulf, and has an average water depth of approximately 70 metres.

As well as making full use of Dongfang 1-1’s existing facilities, the adjustment project has also built one wellhead platform.

The first phase has seven producing wells in total, with five wells producing approximately 1.5 million cubic metres per day (MMcm/d).

The adjustment project is expected to reach a designed peak production of approximately 1.52 MMcm/d this year.