Page 10 - AsianOil Week 49 2022

AsianOil SOUTHEAST ASIA AsianOil

Manila to look alone for oil

in South China Sea

POLICY PRESIDENT of the Philippines Ferdinand Mar- the Philippines.
cos Jr. has said his country intends to initiate a Referring to the suspension of contact
Manila has given up search for oil in the South China Sea region on possible extraction of oil and gas from
hope of reaching an despite having failed to agree a joint search deal under the ocean as a “roadblock”, President
agreement with Beijing. with China, as had been expected earlier this Marcos went on to say: “it is hard to see how
year. we can resolve that. I think there might be
Speaking in the Philippine capital Manila late other ways so [that] it does not have to be
last week, Marcos is the latest regional leader to government-to-government.”
stand up to Chinese territorial ambitions in the Under its previous president, Rodrigo
South China Sea, stating that the Philippines is Duterte, Manila took a much more confronta-
now forced to find a way to survey for oil and gas tional approach to Chinese efforts at exerting
deposits alone, as part of his nation’s own claims pressure on the Philippines and other nearby
in the region. nations into agreeing with Chinese claims to
The South China Sea is already one of the waters that would afford its naval vessels easy
most heavily contested areas in the world in access to the Western Pacific.
terms of territorial ambitions, with six nations But with the United Nations having ruled
often making regional headlines that run coun- against Chinese claims to over 80% of the South
ter to Beijing’s claim over the vast majority of the China Sea, “Exploration activities in disputed
3.5mn-square km area; the world’s largest recog- waters should always be led by the Philippine
nised sea. government because these activities involve
Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, issues relating to sovereign rights and interna-
Taiwan and Vietnam all claim different areas of tional law,” investment analyst Terry L. Ridon
the South China Sea. These claims are frequently was quoted as saying in local media.
challenged by Beijing in the media, although “The private sector cannot afford to take
issues rarely escalate. financial and political risks over areas that
An estimated 11bn barrels of oil reserves and remain in dispute to this day, despite the Hague
up to 200 trillion cubic feet (5.66 trillion cubic ruling in 2016,” he added.
metres) of natural gas are believed to be locked Ridon went on to point out that local firms
beneath the bottom of the sea between 1.5 km engaged in the search for oil or gas are, in the eyes
and 5.5 km down. of the law, acting as agents of the government.
Speaking of moving ahead without Chinese In recent days the position of the government
support in an interview with local media, Presi- in Manila has only been reinforced by a state
dent Marcos said: “That’s a big thing for us, that visit by serving US Vice President Kamala Har-
is why we need to fight (for what is ours) and take ris, during which Harris confirmed US defence
advantage if there really is oil there.” support for the Philippines and recognition of
Talks between China and the previous Philip- the 2016 Hague ruling.
pine administration ended abruptly in the early Meanwhile, comments made by the Phil-
summer, according to local sources, with much ippine’s Foreign Affairs secretary, Enrique D.
of the blame for the cessation of contact attrib- Manalo, in August remain open, in that deals
uted to sovereignty over areas to be searched, and with China are possible as long as they abide by
what was termed “constitutional constraints” in local law. ™

P10 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 49 13•December•2022