PNOC: China ship in Palawan for JMSU

MANILA, Philippines – State-owned Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC) confirmed yesterday that the Chinese vessel Nan Hai 502 currently in Palawan is part of a group conducting seismic data gathering in Philippine territory under the joint marine seismic undertaking (JMSU).

The ship is one of three belonging to China Oilfield Services Ltd., which won the bid to gather data under the JMSU signed by the Philippines with Vietnam and China.

“There’s a ship. At least three ships are involved in gathering data. It’s a mapping... that’s what these ships do. Whether they dock in Palawan for fueling or wherever is another matter. But their activity is limited to gathering of data in the area of JMSU. Now, presumably when they run out of fuel or they have to feed the people, they have to go elsewhere, and the nearest island is maybe Palawan island,” PNOC president Antonio Cailao told ABS-CBN News Channel (ANC).

Cailao said that a total of 142,886 square kilometers is covered by the JMSU.

PNOC’s subsidiary PNOC-Exploration Corp. signed the tripartite agreement on the South China Sea on March 14, 2005, but the actual accord began on July 1, 2005.

Other parties that signed the agreement were the state-owned firms of China and Vietnam – the China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) and PetroVietnam, respectively.

“The area covers 142,886 square kilometers – so they programmed a grid study. We own those. The entire 142,886 square-kilometers is under Philippine territory,” Cailao said.

The government has considered the tripartite agreement a big step towards transforming a previous area of conflict into an area for possible cooperation and mutual benefit. The agreement is, however, designed to be scientific in nature.

“The JMSU is a tripartite agreement that engages China, Vietnam, and the Philippines to do exploratory work involving three activities such as data gathering, processing, and interpretation,” Cailao said.

China was assigned to gather the seismic data, while Vietnam would process information, and the Philippines was tasked to conduct the interpretation of seismic findings.

“This is really pre-exploratory. There is really no way of determining the prospects in the area. We have yet to finish all the phases of the project. So we cannot say whether or not there are good reserves,” Cailao said.

He noted that the Philippines is “under explored” and the tripartite agreement is one way of “pre-exploratory studies made in our waters.”

Last December, the PNOC-EC, CNOOC and PetroVietnam started the second phase of the joint study to assess oil potential of a certain area in the South China Sea.

The JMSU expires on July 1 this year, although there are moves to renew the pact.

The group decided to proceed with the second phase of the seismic data gathering last December due to encouraging results of the first phase.

The seismic acquisition survey involves a 12,000-kilometer program and is expected to be completed by the first quarter this year.

The first phase of the seismic survey ended on Nov. 16, 2005, with 11,021.65 line kilometers already covered.

The Philippine government has strongly pushed for the realization of the agreement to build and maintain peace, stability, security and prosperity in the contested areas in the South China Sea.

The PNOC chief said the agreement with China and Vietnam is not new to the company, saying that it had previously engaged in similar contracts with foreign companies.

“There are many commercial contracts that involved foreign entities and this is just another one of them. In the earlier days there was a joint Australian-Philippine cooperation or Joint Norwegian-Philippine cooperation.”

He said the PNOC-Energy Development Corp., an arm of PNOC in geothermal development, has similar undertaking with companies in Indonesia and Papua Guinea.

“Inviting other commercial entities of other nationalities is a very common practice,” he said.

He also pointed out that the JMSU is just a preliminary agreement.

“This is still a study, and whether there are reserves is now being contemplated. Everyone came on the table with the agreement to do a joint study. It is merely a scientific inquiry and all three parties agreed to that,” he said.

“The decision is still being evaluated, depending on the data we will get. Everything we do will depend on the study which will end on July 1 this year.”

Meanwhile, Malacañang challenged yesterday JMSU critics to question the agreement before the courts.

Deputy Presidential Spokesman Anthony Golez said critics of the JMSU have been calling the venture unconstitutional, yet they have not sought the opinion of the courts on the issue.

He maintained that the JMSU did not violate the Constitution nor infringed on the country’s sovereignty since it involved only pre-exploration activities.

He said the JMSU has been thoroughly studied by government lawyers before it was signed in March 2005.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita earlier said there was nothing to hide in the JMSU as he gave assurances that details of the agreement would be bared “at the appropriate time.”

Since the JMSU involved only pre-exploration activities for possible oil and gas in the vicinity of the Philippine-claimed Kalayaan Island Group, it does not violate the constitutional provision that exploration and exploitation of resources in the country’s territory should be undertaken by the state, he said. –with Paolo Romero