The China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) has announced the discovery of significant reserves of light oil in the deep waters of Kaiping South, in the country's South Sea.

The reserve was found at a depth of around 500 meters, 300 kilometers off the coast of Guangdong province. The well is estimated to contain more than 100 million tons of light oil.

This is the first large field discovered in deep waters, according to CNOOC's Vice President of Exploration, Xu Changgui.

State-owned CNOOC is China's third-largest oil and gas company and the main offshore oil and gas producer. In order to increase its reserves and compensate for declining production, it has increased its investments in offshore exploration in recent years.