The China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) announced on Saturday that China's largest producer of offshore gas, the deepwater gas field in the South China Sea, has more than 100 billion cubic meters of reserves.
Discovered in September last year, the Lingshui 17-2 field is located 150 kilometers south of Hainan Province. The volume of gas produced in the said location is a positive indication of an extensive oil and gas resource for all of China.
Xie Yuhong, an official from CNOOC, said that the relatively conservative estimate of the yearly harvest of the field is estimated to exceed 3.5 to 4 billion cubic meters.
According to a report by the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation, China's natural gas consumption amounted to 180 billion cubic meters last year, and the country's proven reserves amounted to 37 trillion cubic. The report also stated that over 32 percent was imported. In 2013, the ratio of imported gas was 31.6 percent.
Ministry of Land Resources stated that by the end of last year, the country's proven reserves amounted to 37 trillion cubic meters.
An energy expert from Xiamen University, Lin Boquiang, said that the country's reliance to imported gas is risky as China cannot store huge amounts of gas as it does with oil. Lin also said that reliance on importation of gas is unstable as it is heavily dependent on bilateral agreements.
Lin also said: "The majority of oil and gas resources in the South China Sea are in the form of deepwater reserves. The lack of deepwater exploitation technology was a key obstacle preventing China from conducting much extraction in this area previously. Hopefully, the development of the gas and oil extraction is included in South China Sea's five-year plan."