World’s First Large Ultra-shallow Gas Field Discovered In South China Sea

China’s largest offshore crude oil and natural gas producer, CNOOC Limited, announced an important discovery in the South China Sea by confirming the Lingshui 36-1 gas field’s proved gas in place, which exceeds 100 billion cubic meters.

The ultra-deep, ultra-shallow gas field, located in the southern portion of the Central Sag, Qiongdongnan Basin, is the world’s first large-scale discovery of its kind.

The field, with an average water depth of around 1,500 meters and a burial depth of 210 meters, has a production capacity of more than 10 million cubic meters per day.

The announcement comes as the South China Sea remains a hotspot of geopolitical tensions. China claims extensive areas of the South China Sea, while other countries, such as the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and Taiwan, have competing claims.

The United States, the European Union, and other allies support these claims against China’s extensive announcements. The discovery of the Lingshui 36-1 field is expected to intensify existing tensions, given the region’s enormous oil, natural gas, and fish resources and its strategic importance as a major shipping route.

CNOOC estimates that the original gas in place (OGIP) in the Yinggehai, Qiongdongnan, and Zhujiangkou basins exceeds 1 trillion cubic meters.

CNOOC’s Chief Geologist, Xu Changgui, emphasized the challenges of discovering and exploring such ultra-shallow gas reservoirs in deep waters, highlighting the company’s unique exploration concepts and technology approaches.

Zhou Xinhuai, CEO and President of CNOOC stated that the discovery of Lingshui 36-1 is essential to the trillion-cubic-meter gas region in the South China Sea. He added that this accomplishment symbolizes the company’s achievements over the last 40 years and marks the beginning of a new chapter in growing its resource base. Zhou emphasized CNOOC’s commitment to increasing energy supplies and promoting low-carbon growth.

The discovery of the new gas resource could strengthen China’s energy security, but it may also pose diplomatic and political risks, especially given previous incidents such as the 2014 anti-China protests in Vietnam caused by CNOOC’s operations near the Paracel Islands.

Reference: CNOOC

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