Where the Land Ends

China’s oil industry evolved from onshore to offshore mastery, marking a strategic journey for energy security. It began with makeshift 1960s drilling barges before a pivotal, controversial shift: opening resources to foreign cooperation. The groundbreaking 1979 Sino-Japanese Bohai Bay deal, despite sovereignty concerns, proved China could engage globally on its own terms. This led to the 1982 creation of China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), a radical, market-oriented entity designed to operate outside traditional state planning. With preferential policies, CNOOC leveraged foreign capital and technology through successive bidding rounds. The vision culminated in the “Offshore Daqing” achievement, with Bohai Bay’s output surpassing 50 million tons of oil equivalent by 2010. Today, the offshore sector, led by CNOOC’s deepwater and natural gas focus, forms the indisputable backbone of China’s future domestic hydrocarbon growth.