AFP to protect exploration project in disputed sea

The military on Monday said it would provide security to a new oil exploration project in the West Philippines Sea.

The project, located off Zambales province, is well within the Philippines’ 370-kilometer exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

Lt. Col. Noel Detoyato, chief of the public affairs office of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, said the Philippine Navy would provide security for the exploration, which would be conducted by an Australian-Filipino consortium.

“That area borders on the exclusive economic zone, so any exploration must be protected by [the] Philippine Navy, [and] it’s incumbent [on] us since we have to protect our territory,” Detoyato said.

Detoyato did not disclose how many Navy units or what vessels would be deployed to secure the project.

The consortium that holds Service Contract (SC) No. 55 will drill a new deepwater exploratory well in the West Philippine Sea in hopes of finding oil in commercial volume.

Hawkeye well

The group will drill the Hawkeye exploratory well on Aug. 1 after the arrival of the super-deepwater drill ship Maersk Venturer on July 31.

The consortium, composed of Australia’s Otto Energy Investments Ltd., Red Emperor Resources NL, and Palawan 55 Exploration and Production Corp., is spending $24.5 million, or P1.1 billion, to drill the well.

In March, the Department of Energy granted a force majeure on a separate petroleum exploration concession in the West Philippine Sea because the project falls within the area being contested by the Philippines and China.

The SC 55 site is not located at a contested part of the West Philippine Sea.

Detoyato said the military had yet to get specifics about the drilling, just off the coast of Zambales.

Chinese harassment

He said the military would be ready to secure the drilling team in case of harassment from the Chinese.

“We don’t expect any, but we are prepared [for harassment],” Detoyato said.

He declined to say, however, what the military would do if China, which claims 90 percent of the 3.5-million-square-kilometer South China Sea, came to drive away the explorers.

Detoyato said the Philippine Navy and the Philippine Coast Guard would secure any economic activity as long as it was within Philippine waters.

“We have to guarantee them (security) because they are within Philippine waters … as long as they are within Philippine waters,” Detoyato said.