China has set a new world record for scientific ocean coring, successfully drilling 2,843.18 meters into a continental shelf in the Yellow Sea.

Shandong No. 3 Institute of Geology and Mineral Resources said Tuesday that the drilling operation had helped verify that there were oil and gas deposits in the stratum.

The institute developed and established a drilling platform for the project in March 2015 in the waters some 83 sea miles east of Lianyungang City in the eastern province of Shandong, where the water is about 30 meters deep.

The platform is capable of holding up in gales of up to 150 km per hour.

The project is sponsored by the China Geological Survey Bureau. The coring sample can assist research into the geology of continental shelf, an important belt linking continents with oceans.