Showing posts with label Recto Bank. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Recto Bank. Show all posts
Friday, May 18, 2012
Philippine oil firm to start drilling at disputed Recto Bank next year
MANILA - Philippine oil firm said Thursday it would start drilling next year at a potentially massive natural gas field at a reef in the South China Sea also claimed by China.
The drilling of "two appraisal wells" at Reed Bank - also called Recto Bank - will be carried out by August 2013, said Philex Petroleum chairman Manuel Pangilinan.
"We need to do a lot before we know the amount of resources beneath those waters," he told stockholders.
His comments come amid high tension with China over territorial disputes in the South China Sea, with Manila and Beijing locked in a standoff over the Scarborough Shoal.
Philex Petroleum said last month the field at Reed Bank could hold 4.66 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas, nearly twice as much as the Philippines' largest known deposits.
China claims almost all of the South China Sea, including the Reed Bank, which is about 148 kilometres (92 miles) off the Philippine island of Palawan and which the Philippines claims as its territory.
Last year the Philippines accused Chinese vessels of harassing an exploration vessel off Reed Bank, and Manila has repeatedly accused China of aggressive actions in disputed waters.
Pangilinan also said he met with officials of China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) in Beijing recently to discuss their offer to jointly develop the Reed Bank field.
But he said that other big companies had also approached Philex, adding that his firm would need the help of a major oil company as a partner to develop the Reed Bank.
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