No signing of deal on joint exploration with China during Xi visit —DOE

No exploration deal in the contested South China Sea will be signed between the Philippines and China during the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Manila later this month, Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said Wednesday.

“As far as i know, there is none,” Cusi said in a text message. “But again, it could change depending on any developments until meeting time.”

Cusi could not say if the joint exploration deal will be on the agenda topics for the meeting between Xi and President Rodrigo Duterte.

Xi will be in the country after the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation meetings in Papua New Guinea, which would be his first since 2015 when he participated in the APEC Leaders’ Summit hosted by then-President Benigno Aquino III, who brought the arbitration case against China’s excessive claims in the South China Sea.

The United Nations-backed Permanent Court of Arbitration in July 2016 invalidated Beijing’s historic claims in the resource-rich waters and spelled out the Philippines’ sovereign rights to access offshore oil and gas fields within its 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone.

But China refused to recognize the ruling while Duterte chose to temporarily set aside the maritime dispute to forge stronger economic and trade ties with the Asian power.

Cusi told a news conference in Malacañang that two exploration contracts, including the Service Contract 57, are awaiting Duterte’s approval.

The Cabinet official said he could not recall the other contract.

Spanning 720,000 hectares, SC 57 is located west of the Calamian Islands in northwest Palawan, which is not a subject of the maritime dispute.

Awarded by the Department of Energy to state-run Philippine National Oil Co. Exploration Corp. (PNOC-EC) in September 2005, the project has yet to materialize after the PNOC-EC entered into farm-in agreements with China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) and Mitra Energy Ltd. (MEL) – now Jadestone Energy Inc.

The Energy chief said they have already pushed for an amendment to Executive Order 556, signed by then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in June 2006, which prohibits farm-in agreements awarded by any government agency, including the contract for the exploration, development and production of crude oil from the Camago-Malampaya reservoir.

“We have submitted [to Malacañang] our recommendation for each amendment so that we can already sign that exploration,” he said.

CNOOC has the biggest share in the project at 51 percent, followed by PNOC-EC at 28 percent and Jadestone at 21 percent.

Cusi added it is imperative for the government to lift the moratorium on exploration and drilling works in the disputed areas in the South China Sea in order for the possible joint oil and gas exploration deal with China to move forward.

“The issue of the lifting is being taken cared of by the DFA [Department of Foreign Affairs] because of the diplomatic issue. As far as the DOE is concerned, so that we can resume exploration, we need to lift that moratorium,” he said. —NB/BAP, GMA News