PNOC-led group to decide on South China Sea venture by November

The consortium made up of state-owned firms PNOC-Exploration Corp., China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) and Vietnam Oil and Gas Corp. (PetroVietnam) will decide by November this year if they would proceed with exploration activities in the South China Sea.

In a statement, PNOC-EC said the group is currently interpreting the seismic data acquired from the first phase of the joint marine seismic survey in the agreement area in the South China Sea.

PNOC-EC, as activity operator, spearheads the data interpretation being conducted at the PNOC headquarters in Manila.

The interpretation of seismic data is a major component of the tripartite study by the three companies pursuant to the joint marine seismic undertaking (JMSU) agreement signed on March 14, 2005.

The initial report expected to be completed by November will include a recommendation whether or not to proceed with the next phase of the project.

With the data that have been interpreted so far, PNOC-EC’s technical personnel is optimistic that a favorable recommendation will be arrived at.

The first phase of the seismic survey commenced in September last year and ended in November 2005 with a total coverage of 11,021.65 square kilometers.

The Chinese seismic vessel M/V Nan Hai 502 of China National Oilfield Services Ltd. (CNOSL) was contracted to conduct the survey. Representatives from PNOC- EC, CNOOC and PetroVietnam were onboard the vessel during the entire duration of the survey.

The data gathered were processed in Vietnam earlier this year. Additional data sourced from PNOC and CNOOC were also reprocessed. — Donnabelle Gatdula