There have been nearly 33 oil and gas fi elds with billions bbl resources found in deepwater areas all over the world since 1970, so deepwater areas are of prime importance for petroleum exploration
and development. With the achievements of a series of deepwater petroleum exploration technology projects in the USA, Europe and Brazil, the GOM, Brazil and West Africa are becoming the focus of
deepwater oil and gas exploration. The oil productivity derived from deepwater areas exceeds that of shallow water areas in GOM and Brazil since 2001. Deepwater is becoming very important for petroleum
industries and the top area of technology innovations. On the basis of analyses of world deepwater technological innovations, this paper briefl y introduces the history of the China National Offshore Oil
Corporation (CNOOC), and then presents the status and challenges of Chinese deepwater oil and gas development.