China's CNOOC starts up South China Sea oilfield

BEIJING, June 26 (Reuters) - China's offshore oil and gas specialist CNOOC Ltd (0883.HK)(CEO.N) said it had started operations at its Xijiang 23-1 oilfield in the South China Sea.

The first batch of 10 production wells at Xijiang 23-1 were producing approximately 31,000 barrels per day of crude oil, the company said in an announcement on its Web site (www.cnoocltd.com).

Operation facilities at the field included one platform, one floating production storage and offloading equipment (FPSO) and 15 producing wells.

With all wells coming on line, maximum output from the field is expected to reach 40,000 bpd, CNOOC said.

Xijiang 23-1 was discovered in 2003 and is fully owned by CNOOC Ltd.

The company produced 496,753 bpd of oil equivalent in the first quarter of this year.

(Reporting by Jim Bai; editing by Jonathan Hopfner)