Bohai Sea


The Bohai Sea or Bo Sea, also known as Bohai Gulf, Bo Gulf or Pohai Bay, is a marginal sea approximately in area on the east coast of mainland China. It is the northwestern and innermost extension of the Yellow Sea, to which it connects to the east via the Bohai Strait.
A medium-sized gulf, the Bohai Sea is enclosed by four provinces from three different regions of China — Liaoning, Hebei and the Tianjin municipality, and Shandong. It is considered part of the internal waters of the People's Republic of China and the center of the Bohai Economic Rim. Its proximity to the Chinese capital Beijing makes it one of the busiest seaways in the world.

History

Until the early 20th century, Bo Hai was often called the Gulf of Chihli or the Gulf of Pechihli or Pechili. Zhili and Beizhili were historic provinces in the area surrounding Beijing.

Geography

There are three major bays inside the Bohai Gulf: Laizhou Bay to the south, Bohai Bay to the west, and Liaodong Bay to the north. The provincial-level administrative divisions that have a coastline to the Bohai Sea are, from the south going clockwise: Shandong, Hebei, Tianjin, Hebei again, and Liaoning. Some of the major rivers draining into the gulf include the Yellow River, Xiaoqing River, Hai River, Luan River, Dai River, Daling River, Xiaoling River, Liao River and Daliao River. There are a few important oil reserves in the vicinity of the gulf, including the Shengli Field. Important islands or island groups in the gulf include the Changshan Archipelago, Juehua Island, Bijia Mountain, Changxing Island, Xizhong Island, the East/West Mayi Islands, Zhu Island and She Island.

Bohai Strait

The opening of the Bohai Gulf is bounded by Changshan Archipelago between Dalian's Lüshunkou District on the southern tip of Liaodong Peninsula, and the Cape of Penglai on the northernmost protrusion of Shandong Peninsula. Due to its proximity to the capital city Beijing and the population of its surrounding provinces exceeding 210 million, the exit of the Bohai Gulf to the Yellow Sea, the Bohai Strait, has become one of busiest sea routes in recent times. Due to the Changshan Island Chain traversing the southern half of the strait, the Bohai Strait is subdivided into several channels:
There are five major ports along the Bohai Sea rim, with throughputs over 100 million tons, though the port of Tangshan is further subdivided into Jingtang and Caofeidian:
Caofeidian and Jingtang are usually treated as one port for statistical purposes. The ports of Dalian and Yantai are also traditionally considered part of the Bohai rim, even though strictly speaking they lie outside the limits of the sea. The Port of Longkou reached 70 million tons of cargo in 2013, and is expected to reach the 100 million ton landmark in the near future.

Major cities along the Bohai Sea coast

The Bohai Bay contains significant oil and gas reserves, which provide much of China's offshore production. The main field in the region, named Shengli, has been exploited since the 1960s. It still produces about half a million barrels a day, but is declining. Production is dominated by Chinese majors but foreign companies are also present, like ConocoPhilips, Roc Oil, and others. The Gudao Field, located in the Zhanhua sedimentary basin, was discovered in 1968, based on gravity, magnetic and seismic surveys conducted between 1963–1964. The reservoir includes the Guantao and Minghuazhen geologic formations within the dome-like anticline. The Suizhong 36-1 Oil Field was discovered in 1987, and produces from Oligocene fluvial-deltaic and lacustrine sandstones. Oil spills have been reported frequently in this region: three spills occurred in a two-month timeframe in 2011.

Tunnel crossing

In February 2011, the PRC announced that it would build a road and rail tunnel across the Bohai Strait to connect the Liaodong and Shandong peninsulas. When completed, the tunnel would be long. This plan seems to have been superseded as of July 2013, with a modified plan involving a tunnel between Dalian, Liaoning and Yantai, Shandong. The overall concept had its origins in a 1994 plan, which had been intended for completion by 2010 at a cost of $10 billion.