China's biggest offshore oil company CNOOC Ltd said yesterday its Canada-based partner Husky Energy had made a second significant deepwater gas discovery in the South China Sea, showing high potential in energy resources in the region.

The newly discovered Liuhua 34-2 field, located in the Pearl River Mouth Basin in the eastern South China Sea, is capable of producing 55 million cubic feet of natural gas per day during test drilling, CNOOC said in a statement yesterday.

In order to determine the full potential of the field, an appraisal well would be drilled in early 2010 by Husky, said the statement.