Chinese state oil company CNOOC has made a remarkable natural gas discovery in the South China Sea, and it could be a game changer for the region's energy politics.
CNOOC believes that the new Lingshui 36-1 reservoir contains more than 100 billion cubic meters (3.5 trillion cubic feet) of natural gas in an ultra-shallow field in ultra-deep water - the first field of this kind in the world. The gas layer lies just 200 meters below the seabed in 1,500 meters of water.
According to CNOOC, the odds of a commercially-viable gas field at such a shallow depth below the seabed was believed to be impossible. This one, however, should be capable of producing an abundant 10 million cubic meters a day of natural gas.
CNOOC first announced the find in June, and it has now been confirmed by state regulators. Taken together with its previous finds, the new field brings the regional total to more than a trillion cubic meters of reserves. For comparison, this is approximately 1/60th the size of Norway's Troll field.
CNOOC has not released the location of the field. China's neighbors have not issued protests about its development, suggesting that it may lie within China's legitimate and internationally-recognized EEZ off Hainan Island.
China also claims the vast majority of the South China Sea as its own, including international waters and segments of its neighbors' EEZs. It has previously sparred with Vietnam over energy E&P projects, repeatedly shadowing and harassing rig activity in Vietnamese-sponsored oil leases within Vietnam's EEZ. In 2014 and again in 2016, China deployed a rig of its own into disputed waters off Vietnam in an attempt to drill, leading to a diplomatic standoff.
