India ready to move oil platform into South China Sea
China's Xingwang deep-sea semi-submersible drilling platform in operation in the South China Sea, June 12. (Photo/Xinhua)
India's Oil and Natural Gas Corporation is ready to move an oil platform into the South China Sea to help the Vietnamese government explore for natural resources beneath disputed waters in the region, reports China's nationalist tabloid Global Times.
The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Videsh Limited, the overseas arm of Oil and Natural Gas Corp, signed a production-sharing contract with PetroVietnam, the state-run oil company of the Southeast Asian country, to explore a section of the South China Sea known as Block 128, currently under Vietnamese control. Vietnam initially looked at an area designated Block 127 but it showed few prospects. Thus the 7,058 square kilometers of Block 128, which lies in the Phu Khanh Basin, will be the main exploration site, according to Bloomberg.
China did not start international bidding to explore the the waters under its administration until 2009, three years after the production-sharing contract between India and Vietnam was signed. A two-year extension was signed in June 2012 for Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Videsh Limited to continue exploration in Block 128. A third one-year extension was granted to the company on Aug. 25.
With the support of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India is likely to move its oil platform into the area. New Delhi may be doing this in response to recent Chinese maritime activities in the Indian Ocean, according to Ralf Emmers, the associate dean of the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies. Emmers said that by deploying the platform in the South China Sea, India will be able to strengthen its cooperation with other regional powers such as Japan and the United States.
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