我国首座深水钻井平台南海开钻

The sixth-generation semi-submersible CNOOC 981, owned by the China National Offshore Oil Corporation, has begun drilling in the South China Sea, 320 kilometers southeast of Hong Kong.

It's drilling at a depth of around 1,500 meters to try to reach an estimated 30 billion cubic meters of natural gas.

This is the first independent deep-water oil drilling conducted by a Chinese company, and makes China the first country to actively drill for deep-water oil and gas resources in the South China Sea.

In recent years, China's neighboring countries, such as Vietnam and the Philippines, have also been trying to establish their own oil and natural gas exploration projects in the South China Sea.

Li Zhaojie, professor with the School of Law at Tsinghua University, suggests the drilling by the new Chinese rig can give China a strategic advantage in the South China Sea.

"China calls for claiming the sovereignty of the islands in the South China Sea. From a legal perspective, the island tenure means the exclusive possession, use and management of the territory. We will take concrete actions to safeguard our rights and interests in our resource-rich maritime territory. Large deep-water drilling rigs are our mobile national territory and strategic weapon for promoting the development of the country's offshore oil industry."

Chinese authorities estimate the South China Sea could contain resources accounting for around one-third of China's total oil and gas deposits.

About 70 percent of the oil and gas reserves in the South China Sea are contained in deep-water regions.

Gong Yingchun, professor on International Law from China Foreign Affairs University, says the deep-sea oil rig should help reduce China's oil imports.

"If we can explore oil and natural gas independently in the South China Sea, China's energy shortage will be eased, together with the oil transport cost being greatly reduced. If the situation around the Strait of Malacca and the Strait of Hormuz, China's oil transport lifeline is getting worse, we can explore oil from the South China Sea to deal with the crisis."

China currently relies on imports for more than 55 percent of this country's crude oil and 20 percent of its natural gas.

For CRI, this is Wei Tong.