菲律賓欲開發非爭議水域14處石油區塊

The Philippines, faced with an approaching energy crunch and a maritime dispute with China overshadowing one of its biggest offshore gasfields, has outlined plans to invite oil and gas companies to develop 14 petroleum blocks elsewhere in the archipelago nation.

在能源短缺不斷逼近、與中國的海上糾紛又爲該國一個最大的海上氣田蒙上陰影的情況下，菲律賓制定了邀請石油和天然氣公司開發這個羣島國家其他地方的14個石油區塊的計劃。

A Philippine official told the Financial Times that the government was planning a roadshow in the UK, the US and Singapore during the third quarter of this year to drum up investors’ interest in the blocks.

一名菲律賓官員告訴英國《金融時報》，菲律賓政府計劃今年第三季度在英國、美國和新加坡舉行路演，以吸引投資者對這些區塊的興趣。

The Philippine oil sector has been largely overlooked because of the reputation it has earned for saddling energy companies with red tape. An unresolved dispute with Beijing in the South China Sea has prevented development of some of the country’s largest offshore gas reserves.

菲律賓石油行業未引起外界多少興趣，是因爲能源企業在該國受到官僚程序掣肘——菲律賓的這一特點是名聲在外。而菲律賓與中國在南中國海(South China Sea)尚未解決的糾紛，妨礙了該國一些大型海上氣藏的開發。

The blocks on offer will be on the Philippine side of the “nine-dash line”, China’s notional sea border, which covers most of the South China Sea, said Donato Marcos, undersecretary with the Philippine Department of Energy. “These are pre-determined areas of petroleum, meaning there are data already available in the Department of Energy,” he said.

菲律賓能源部副部長多納託.馬科斯(Donato Marcos)表示，招標的這些區塊位於“九段線”的菲律賓一側。“九段線”是中國主觀劃定的海上邊境線，該線將大部分南中國海劃入中國版圖。馬科斯表示：“這些是預先確定的石油區，即相關數據在能源部已可以找到。”

Chinese ships harassed a Philippine survey ship in 2011 prospecting for gas on Service Contract (SC) 72, one of four Philippine offshore blocks that lie partly or wholly in disputed waters that China claims. In 2015, Manila halted exploration in the area when it pursued international arbitration over its maritime dispute with China, which was awarded in its favour in 2016.

2011年，中國船隻騷擾了一艘在第72號服務合同(SC 72)區塊勘探天然氣的菲律賓勘探船，SC 72是菲律賓部分或全部位於中國提出領土聲索的爭議水域的四處海上區塊之一。2015年，菲律賓暫停該區域勘探，就與中國的海上糾紛尋求國際仲裁，並在2016年獲得了對其有利的裁決。

The area in disputed waters, known as the Reed Bank, contains what experts believe are some of the richest gas deposits in a fast-growing nation of 105m people. Rodrigo Duterte, the populist president, has said he wants to invest tens of billions of dollars in infrastructure in the coming years.

專家認爲，位於爭議水域（Reed Bank，中國稱禮樂灘）的該區塊，擁有菲律賓儲量最豐富的一些氣藏。擁有1.05億人口的菲律賓目前發展速度很快。該國的民粹主義總統羅德里戈.杜特爾特(Rodrigo Duterte)已表示，他希望未來數年投資數百億美元建設基礎設施。

Alan Peter Cayetano, Philippines foreign affairs secretary, flew to Beijing last week to discuss with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, a legal framework acceptable to both the Philippines and China.

菲律賓外交部長阿蘭.彼得.卡耶塔諾(Alan Peter Cayetano)上週飛赴北京，尋求與中國外長王毅商討出一個菲中雙方都能接受的法律框架。

With compromise unlikely, the Philippines is focusing on undisputed areas, mostly in the country’s north and south. The Philippines needs new sources of energy because of its reliance on a single gas deposit at Malampaya, off the western island of Palawan, which is expected to run dry by 2030.

由於達成妥協希望不大，菲律賓正把重點放在不存在爭議的、主要位於該國北部和南部的區域。菲律賓需要新的能源來源，因爲目前該國仰仗的天然氣氣藏只有一處，是位於西部巴拉望島(Palawan)附近海上的馬拉帕雅(Malampaya)氣田，預計這處氣田將不晚於2030年枯竭。

Harry Roque, Mr Duterte’s spokesman, said earlier this month that the Philippines was open to joint exploration with China on SC 72, but Philippine officials say they are only open to projects that would recognise Philippine sovereignty over the area. Oil industry and geopolitical analysts said it was unlikely that China, which has also moved to stop Vietnam from exploring in disputed waters, would accept these terms.

杜特爾特的發言人哈里.羅克(Harry Roque)本月早些時候說菲律賓願與中國聯合勘探SC 72區塊，但菲律賓官員表示他們只參與那些承認菲律賓對該區域擁有主權的項目。石油行業和地緣政治分析人士表示，採取行動阻止越南在爭議水域勘探的中國，不太可能接受這些條款。

“The frame of mind in the DoE is to get China to be a service contractor, which is a non-starter for China, because that would be an implicit recognition of sovereign rights [of the Philippines],” said Jay Batongbacal, director of the University of the Philippines’ Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea.

“能源部的想法是讓中國成爲服務承包商，對中國而言這毫無可能，因爲那等於默認（菲律賓的）主權，”菲律賓大學(University of the Philippines)海事與海洋法研究所(Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea)所長傑伊.巴東巴卡爾(Jay Batongbacal)說。