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发帖数: 542 | 1 Chinese fishing vessels accidentally cut the cables of a Vietnam Oil & Gas
Group seismic ship doing work in Vietnam-controlled waters of the South
China Sea, Chief Executive Officer Do Van Hau.
“China cut the cables by accident,” he said by phone today. “It’s unlike
last time when they intentionally cut our cables.”
PetroTimes, a newspaper run by the company, quoted Pham Viet Dung, deputy
head of exploration, yesterday accusing the Chinese fishing vessels of “
harassing” the Binh Minh 2 survey ship when the cables were cut on Nov. 30.
State-run PetroVietnam made repairs on Dec. 1, the report said.
The incident occurred as China presses its claims to most of the South China
Sea over the objections of Vietnam and the Philippines, which reject its
map of the waters as a basis for joint oil and gas development. Last year,
Chinese vessels cut the cables of a PetroVietnam survey ship and chased away
a boat in waters delimited by the Philippines.
Earlier this year, PetroVietnam warned China to halt efforts to develop
disputed areas of the South China Sea that Hanoi’s leaders have already
awarded to companies including Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) and OAO Gazprom.
China National Offshore Oil Corp., the government-owned parent of Cnooc Ltd.
(883), deployed China’s first deep-water drilling rig in May near disputed
islands.
Vietnamese Waters
The incident with PetroVietnam took place about 20 miles west of the median
line between Vietnam and China in the Gulf of Tonkin, PetroTimes reported.
The two countries reached an agreement to delimit waters in the gulf in 2000.
The South China Sea may hold 213 billion barrels of oil, equivalent to 80
percent of Saudi Arabia’s reserves, according to Chinese studies cited in
2008 by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. China, the world’s
second-largest economy, claims “indisputable sovereignty” over most of the
sea.
China’s government last week reaffirmed its commitment to freedom of
navigation in the South China Sea after Philippine President Benigno Aquino
called for it to clarify a report that police would start interdicting ships
in disputed waters.
“China attaches importance to freedom of navigation in the South China Sea
and at the moment there’s no problem in this regard,” Foreign Ministry
spokesman Hong Lei said, adding that issues should be resolved through “
friendly” consultations. The official Xinhua news agency reported on Nov.
27 that authorities in Hainan Island province empowered police to seize and
expel ships that illegally enter its waters.
To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Daniel Ten Kate in Bangkok
at d******[email protected]; Nguyen Dieu Tu Uyen in Hanoi at uyen1@bloomberg.
net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Peter Hirschberg at |
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