Deepwater plays in China-Vietnam spat

摘要

Hanoi—China and Vietnam’s South China Sea dispute has deepwater oil implications as Chinese state-owned oil company China National Offshore Oil Corp. moved its semi-submersible deepwater drilling rig Haiyang Shiyou 981 into an area that overlaps Vietnam’s offshore Block 143. Although Vietnam has not made any oil and gas finds in Block 143 or in adjacent Block 142, the area where CNOOC is drilling also lies close to Vietnamese Blocks 118 and 119, where ExxonMobil discovered substantial oil and gas reserves in 2011 and 2012.