CHINA National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) announced on Saturday that construction has officially started on a carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) project at the Dongfang 1-1 gas field in Hainan Province.

The project marks the country’s first demonstration initiative applying offshore carbon injection technology to enhance natural gas production. Once fully operational, the project is designed to permanently store more than 1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide underground each year.

Carbon injection for enhanced gas recovery is a specialized branch of CCUS technology. Its core principle is to turn carbon dioxide emitted during natural gas extraction into a valuable resource. After being captured and purified, the carbon dioxide is pressurized and injected back into gas-bearing reservoirs, where it acts as a driving force to unlock hard-to-recover natural gas reserves.

Yu Fasong, head of the Dongfang 1-1 CCUS project at CNOOC Hainan, said the initiative will move decarbonization processes from onshore plants directly to offshore platforms. Upon completion, the project will be fully connected to the existing production infrastructure of the Dongfang 1-1 gas field. It will enhance the transportation capacity of the subsea pipeline network in the Yinggehai Sea, support the cost-effective development of more carbon-rich natural gas resources in the region, and help sustain long-term stable production of the entire Dongfang gas field cluster.

The Dongfang 1-1 CCUS project is expected to set a practical benchmark for China’s offshore energy transition by coupling low-carbon emissions management with ongoing gas supply. By injecting captured carbon dioxide directly into underground reservoirs, the project is designed not only to cut the carbon footprint of offshore production, but also to improve resource utilization and extend the productive life of aging fields. CNOOC said the initiative will help refine offshore CCUS engineering standards, strengthen technical capability for large-scale carbon storage at sea, and provide valuable experience for future CCUS deployment across China’s offshore gas basins.(Xinhua)