Heading into the Deep for the First Time

On May 9, China National Offshore Oil Corp.'s (CNOOC) first deepwater drilling platform began operating in the South China Sea. The world-class vessel will operate at the Liwan 6-1-1 field, about 320 kilometers southeast of Hong Kong, in waters about 1,500 meters deep.

The development of platform 981 and China's strategy for exploiting deepwater oil and gas resources are inseparable. At a ceremony in Beijing marking the start of drilling, CNOOC Chairman Wang Yilin and Wang Ming, the head of the Ministry of Land and Resources, both referred to the political significance of deepwater oil and gas resources and repeatedly stressed maintaining the sovereignty of China's territorial waters.