Chinese operator Sinopec has drilled a successful wildcat well in the Beibu Gulf of the South China Sea, paying the way for the first oil next year.

The company, via its offshore outfit Sinopec Shanghai Offshore Oil & Gas Branch Company, declared the side-tracked Wei 10 well flowed commercial volumes of oil and has met reserves expectation.

Industry sources told Upstream that the well drilled by semi-submersible rig Kantan IV, could hold potential reserves of “several million tonnes of light oil”.