Chinese drill for oil in troubled waters....
China’s largest offshore oil producer Cnooc has started its first deep-sea drilling project in the South China Sea, a move analysts see as a response to domestic pressure on Beijing to assert its claims in the disputed area.
Cnooc 981, China’s first self-developed deep sea drilling platform, started work in a spot 320km south-east of Hong Kong on Wednesday, the company said, adding it was planning to drill three wells and was optimistic that it would find oil.
It is unclear whether the platform’s location, in a block Cnooc calls Liwan 6-1, is in disputed waters. Li Jinming, a South China Sea expert at Xiamen University, said it was located between the Paracel Islands – an archipelago claimed by both China and Vietnam – and the Macclesfield Bank, claimed by China and Taiwan.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d6214492-99be-...z1uPbOwNeh
The Chinese are now following up on their claims by starting to drill for oil. If significant oil is found .... expect tensions in the region to expand appreciably as other countries (China included) start to assert their territorial competing claims and demands with more oil drilling and the positioning of naval forces..., the same will apply to the East Mediterranean Oil & Gas Bonanza soon....
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