Aivum Remains Buoyant About Exploration in Vietnamese Waters

Manama, September 23, 2015 (Newswire.com) - ​Aivum’s Regional Director of Asia, Mr Peter Li Qiang stated that “Vietnam has some very promising reserves of oil and gas, however a fair amount of them are located in disputed territory, with China laying claim”. He also stated that “at this moment in time those areas are not of interest to us, so hold no concern, we are currently looking at the continental shelf and the exclusive economic zone of Vietnam, which is under the sovereignty and territory of Vietnam”.  These regions are also in compliance with international laws and in particular the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Aivum continues to press on in other areas without any worry about Chinese claims on the sovereignty of Vietnam’s territorial waters in the East Sea (also known as the South China Sea). There seems to be a consensus that there is money to be made even with the current dispute and there seem to be many more petroleum company investors, both domestic and foreign continuing their research and signing contracts to conduct petroleum activities in Vietnam’s waters, with some even exploring disputed areas.

This clearly demonstrates international recognition of the sovereignty of Vietnam’s territorial waters and reaffirms the strong support of the international community to the legitimacy of Vietnam in conducting petroleum activities within its national territorial waters.

So far there have been no commercial discoveries (in disputed areas), but if there are commercial discoveries and it is expected that there will be, Vietnam we will start developing them if they are within their continental shelf. At that stage Aivum will make a decision as to whether to join the exploration and development stage in those areas, but at the moment are prepared to bide their time.