China's first offshore shale exploration well has gained commercial flow of shale oil in the South China Sea, said China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) on July 28.

The shale oil exploration well Weiye-1 located in a trough in the Beibu Gulf in the South China Sea implemented a successful fracking test and extracted the commercial flow of shale oil, marking a major breakthrough in offshore shale exploration of China, said CNOOC, the largest offshore oil and gas producer of the country.

"After two years of bottleneck-breaking work including study of the characteristic of shale oil reserve in the southwestern trough in Beibu Gulf as well as multi-round verification on feasibility of the project and the fracking test, we deployed China's first offshore shale oil exploration well, which has unleashed shale oil and gained commercial flow of shale oil," said Deng Yong, chief geologist with the CNOOC Zhanjiang Branch.