Legal Guarantees for the Safety of China’s Offshore Oil and Gas Facilities: Status, Defects and Countermeasures

The safety of offshore oil and gas facilities is a deep concern in relation to the security of China’s fossil energy supply. At present, there are a series of international law protection systems with the offshore facility safety zone system as the core. Most of world’s major maritime countries have established offshore oil and gas facilities protection systems in the form of domestic legislation in accordance with relevant international law, and some of them have adopted measures expanding the scope of their safety zones to strengthen protection. However, there remain some defects in the existing international law system. Therefore, the Chinese government needs to promptly clarify its position on issues related to the offshore facilities safety zone system, and propose the formulation of a specialised convention.