The announcement came days after US, Philippines, Japan drilled near a contested shoal.
2025.03.31
The Hai Yang Shi You 981 oil platform operated by China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) is seen in the sea off China's southernmost Hainan province, March 23, 2018.
The Hai Yang Shi You 981 oil platform operated by China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) is seen in the sea off China's southernmost Hainan province, March 23, 2018.
TAIPEI, Taiwan – The China National Offshore Oil Corporation, or CNOOC, has discovered an oilfield in the South China Sea with proven reserves exceeding 100 million tons, Chinese state media said on Monday.
The oilfield in the eastern South China Sea – the Huizhou 19-6 oilfield – was about 170 kilometers (106 miles) from the city of Shenzhen in southern China’s Guangdong Province, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
Test drilling of the oilfield, which sits at an average water depth of 100 meters, has yielded a daily production of 413 barrels of crude oil and 68,000 cubic meters of natural gas, it added.
Xinhua described it as “China’s first large-scale integrated clastic oilfield discovered in deep to ultra-deep layers.”
CNOOC told Xinhua that offshore oil and gas exploration in deep to ultra-deep layers faces multiple challenges, including high temperatures, high pressures, and complex conditions.
Xinhua cited Peng Guangrong, a geologist at CNOOC’s Shenzhen branch, as saying that 60% of the world’s newly discovered oil and gas reserves have come from deep layers.
The South China Sea is mostly underexplored because of territorial disputes, but most discovered oil and gas reserves are in uncontested areas, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
China claims almost all of the South China Sea – through which US$3 trillion in commerce moves annually – overlapping with sovereignty claims by the Philippines, Malaysia, Taiwan, Vietnam and Brunei.
Military patrol
On Friday, the Chinese military said it conducted a patrol in the South China Sea, an exercise that came on the same day U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reaffirmed Washington’s commitment to Manila.
Separately, a spokesman for the Southern Theatre Command of the People’s Liberation Army said on Saturday that the Philippines frequently enlisted foreign countries to organize “joint patrols” and “disseminated illegal claims” in the region, destabilizing the area.
Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth met his Filipino counterpart Gilberto Teodoro and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr on Friday in Manila, as part of Hegseth’s Asia tour that also included Guam and Japan.
Hegseth reaffirmed Washington’s “ironclad” commitment to its defence treaty with the Philippines, vowing to deploy advanced military capabilities to bolster deterrence against threats, including Chinese “aggression.”
“Deterrence is necessary around the world, but specifically in this region, in your country, considering the threats from the communist Chinese,” Hegseth said.
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The same day, the U.S., Japan, and the Philippines conducted joint naval drills near the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea to enhance crisis preparedness when a Chinese military vessel reportedly monitored the exercises from a distance.
At one point, a Chinese frigate attempted to approach the area where warships and aircraft from the three allied nations were carrying out maneuvers.
However, a Philippine frigate issued a radio warning, prompting the Chinese vessel to keep its distance.
For the first time since these joint naval exercises began last year, known as the Multilateral Maritime Cooperative Activity, a select group of Manila-based media was granted access to observe the drills at sea.
Edited by Mike Firn.