China's Bohai Bay basin has matured but many of its offshore prospects remain to be explored.

Roc Oil spuds second well offshore China

China

SYDNEY, September 23, 2015 – Australian upstream company Roc Oil has spudded its second of two offshore exploration wells in China’s Bohai Bay Basin.

Well QK12-3-1D will be drilled to a depth of 3,600 metres and is expected to take 26 days to complete. Water depths at the block range between 5 and 10 metres. The first well drilled in the block last year, QK11-1-1, struck non-commercial reserves and was plugged.

Roc Oil operates the block with a 60-percent stake, and Australian exploration and production company AWE holds the remaining 40 percent.

The Bohai Bay Basin is a continental basin in eastern China, and is estimated to have 146 billion barrels of oil in reserves. The basin as a whole has been explored for nearly 40 years, but its offshore portion remains less developed.

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