Disputes Forecasted as China Promotes Oil Exploration

Protests from neighboring countries are expected as China promotes oil exploration in areas of the sea where disputes are likely to arise.

The areas where three major Chinese oil companies are trying to explore are the East China Sea and the South China Sea.

Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported on August 31 that the reason why China hurries to explore oil is because China’s dependency on imported oil has reached 35 percent, and China ranked second among the oil importing countries. China judges that they won’t be able to continue to economically develop without raising the amount of oil it generates on its own.

Petro China, a major oil company in China, is promoting oil exploration in the area near the Nanxia Archipelago. The company has achieved the right to explore submarine oil field, and natural gas fields from the government. The company has recently submitted the operations plan to the government and is awaiting approval from the government.

The Nanxia Archipelago is a region where China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Philippines have fought over for territorial rights, so international disputes are expected. It is forecasted that the related countries will protest strongly when the actual exploration begins.

The China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) has started to construct facilities to explore natural gas in the area near the exclusive economic zone with Japan. The company also plans to soon start constructing submarine pipelines connecting the gas field and mainland China.

Japan has raised objection to the gas exploration, saying that it is likely for the company to exploit gas from Japan’s side as the gas fields locate on the boundaries between the two countries.

The Japanese government requested an explanation from the Chinese government, and showed serious concerns to the situation in which explorations are hurriedly promoted.

Hun-Joo Cho hanscho@donga.com