CNOOC, China’s top offshore oil producer, is inviting foreign companies to explore for oil and gas in another 26 blocks, including 22 in the strategically important South China Sea, although an analyst said none of these were in disputed territory.

Experts said the tender, which also covers blocks in the Bohai Sea off North China and in the East China Sea, was probably the largest offered by China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) since the 1990s, in the latest sign the oil giant wants to beef up exploration as its output growth slows.

The tender comes two months after CNOOC invited international firms to bid for nine blocks in the western part of the South China Sea, a move Vietnam said was illegal as the blocks encroached on its territorial waters.

China at the time insisted the tender in June was in accord with Chinese and international law and urged Vietnam not to escalate the quarrel.

Huang Xinhua, a geologist at energy consultancy IHS, said none of the latest blocks appeared to be in disputed areas.

One of the blocks is in the northern Bohai Bay, with three in the East China Sea, 18 in the eastern part of the South China Sea and four in the western South China Sea, the company said on its Web site. They cover a total area of 73,754 square kilometers. (

SD-Agencies)