CNOOC Developing New Deep Sea Gas Block in South China Sea

China's offshore oil and gas producer CNOOC has started developing a new gas field in the South China Sea, the official Xinhua News Agency reported on Tuesday.

The Lingshui 17-2 gas field is the first deep sea gas block fully operated by a Chinese company, Xinhua said citing CNOOC officials.

The deep sea project, which was discovered in 2014, is 150 km (94 miles) south of China's southern Hainan island, with an average operational depth of 1,500 metres, according to a Reuters report from that year.

CNOOC is ready to start building a subsea level platform used for drilling, Xinhua said.

(Reporting by Meng Meng and Aizhu Chen; Editing by Tom Hogue)