China now has the ability to develop oil and gas reserves far underwater without relying heavily on partners, and for foreign relations, that’s no small matter. Such independence raises the specter of future maritime conflict with not just Vietnam, but also Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines, all of which claim sovereignty over parts of the waters that China also claims. The significance of China’s newfound mastery of deep-water technology is seen clearly from the latest deployment of a drilling rig in disputed waters near Vietnam.
The Chinese-built deep-water rig went through a coming-out project when Cnooc Ltd. two years ago put it to work in developing a deep-sea gas field off Hong Kong. That project went into production just two months ago.
In part because of the know-how it acquired in that project, Cnooc can now carry out its own seismic surveys to find hydrocarbon-rich deposits, drill wells to confirm their presence and economic viability, and lay subsea pipelines needed to extract the oil and gas.
In the past, China offered foreign companies the right to explore in the South China Sea as it lacked the equipment and skills to do this, but insisted that if projects went into commercial development then Cnooc—China’s main offshore oil company—would take a majority stake.
The path that led to these capabilities has been a thorny one since some of the exploration blocks Cnooc offered to foreign partners in 2012 lay within what Vietnam said was its exclusive economic zone under the United Nations’ Convention on the Law of the Sea.
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