Beijing, March 12 - China National Offshore Oil Corp announced on March 8 on behalf of the Chinese government that China will open its biggest oceanic oil & gas block to foreign enterprises, although, they are not yet open to domestic private enterprises.

According to the information from China National Oil Corp, this block consists of 22 sub-blocks, covering about 114,050 sq km, and it is the biggest of its kind ever.

All the 22 sub-blocks are located in or near the South China Sea area, 3 in the southern Yellow Sea, 4 in the East China Sea, 8 in the eastern South China Sea, and the rest 7 in the western South China Sea.

There is only one deep-water block of 2,000 m to 3,000 m in depth, in the west South China Sea.

China National Offshore Oil Crp only has cooperative rights of oceanic gas and oil resources, and as much as 51% of the profit can be transferred to its constituent corporations after the bidding.