China National Offshore Oil Corp., the nation's third-biggest oil producer, may drill a field off the Philippine coast that Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Chevron Corp. abandoned as unprofitable.

.. Fu Chengyu, president of the Chinese state-controlled company, is looking for overseas projects after a failed attempt to buy U.S.-based Unocal Corp. for $18.5 billion. Participation in Malampaya, which has enough oil to meet China's demand for four days, may help win Philippine support to explore in disputed waters near the Spratly Islands that may hold larger reserves, analysts and investors said.

..``Cnooc's developing Malampaya may be part of the broader geopolitical scene,'' said Mark Valencia, a maritime policy analyst who wrote the 1985 book ``Southeast Asia Seas: Oil Under Troubled Water'' on the Spratlys. ``The three companies will move to oil exploration next, legitimizing China's presence in the South China Sea.''

Bloomberg