PH hopes to finish joint exploration deal with China within months

The Philippine government is hopeful that the country’s joint oil and gas exploration agreement with China will be finished “within the next couple of months.” (Pixabay photo)

The Philippine government is hopeful that the country’s joint oil and gas exploration agreement with China will be finished “within the next couple of months.”

Philippine Ambassador to China Chito Sta. Romana said this on Monday, April 9, adding that the joint exploration deal will not be signed during President Rodrigo Duterte’s visit to China as the two countries have not yet finalized details.

“I think the best estimate I have gotten is from (Foreign Affairs) Secretary (Alan) Cayetano that we are trying to see if we can achieve an agreement, hopefully, within the next couple of months but, as always, in negotiations, we can never predict. If it’s necessary to take a longer time.

We will take our time as long as we meet our objectives,” Sta.

Romana told reporters.

“But if we can do it, and there is political willingness on both sides, (we will) try to achieve an agreement as soon as possible. But it won’t be tomorrow,” he added.

The envoy also stressed that a joint exploration agreement should be acceptable to both sides.

“The Philippines is aware of certain parameters. It has [to] be within our constitutional requirements, and legal requirements. The Chinese have their own parameters but there is political will from both sides to move forward,” he noted.

Sta. Romana said that any agreement has to withstand “public scrutiny” and “be acceptable to the Filipino people.”

“The basic point we are trying to achieve is to be able to find a way to enhance our energy security, to solve our crying need for energy in a way we can achieve it with a peaceful diplomatic solution so we can finally explore and develop the resources that belong to us and avoid making it a source of conflict,” he continued.

China claims almost the entire of South China Sea, a resource-rich territory whose parts are subject to competing claims with Malaysia, Brunei, Taiwan, Vietnam, and the Philippines and a place where over $5 trillion worth of goods transits annually.

The Philippines and China last February agreed to set up a special panel to come up with a solution on how they can jointly explore oil and gas in parts of the South China Sea that both countries lay claim without addressing the explosive issue of sovereignty.

According to a Reuters report in the same month, forming a joint project agreement would be extremely complex and sensitive, as sharing oil and gas reserves could be seen as legitimizing the other country’s claim, or even ceding sovereign territory.