China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) has announced that Liuhua 16-2 oilfield/ 20-2 oilfield joint development project has commenced production.

A submarine pipeline at a depth of 1,542 meters has been successfully completed at the Lingshui 17-2 gas field in the South China Sea which could promote the exploitation of deep-water gas resources.

China Petrochemical Corp., Sinopec announced its plan to build a gasoline filling station and a storage depot at its outpost in the disputed Paracels Island in the South China Sea to ramp up its fuel supplies.

China has moved an oil rig at the center of last year's violent dispute with Vietnam closer to Vietnam's coast in the disputed South China Sea, just weeks ahead of the first visit by a chief of Vietnam's Communist Party to Washington.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo said one of China's main claims to the majority of the South China Sea had no legal basis in international law, but Jakarta wanted to remain an "honest broker" in one of Asia's most thorny territorial disputes.

The Philippine government has ordered the suspension of all exploration at an offshore oil and gas field because of an ongoing territorial dispute with China, a Filipino-British company said.

China said its recent gas discovery in the politically volatile South China Sea could yield 100 billion cubic meters of natural gas, underlining Beijing's determination to extract resources from waters claimed by several nations