Post by Josh A. Kortze on Jan 12, 2010 12:43:28 GMT -5
Quezon City- In an interview yesterday, the President of the Philippines, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, said that her country is selling drilling rights to several of the oil producing sites in the Spratly Islands. The Spratly Islands fall within the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the Philippines, yet China has contested the validity of this claim. Currently, China is drilling for oil in the Spratly Islands, angering the leaders of the Philippines. Arroyo said that the rights will be sold to ENSCO International Incorporated, an offshore drilling contractor based in Dallas, Texas. Currently, ENSCO has 46 offshore drilling rigs, many already operating in the Pacific Asian region. Wen Jiabao, the current Premier of China, said that his country will do whatever it can to make sure that this deal does not go through. China recently sold the right to its recently discovered oil fields to the Chinese company, China National Offshore Oil Corporation, or CNNOC. Zongwei Xiao, a spokesman for the Chinese company, said that teams were currently traveling to the Spratly Islands, accompanied by several navy vessels. It may be too early yet to tell whether or not this is an act of aggression by the Chinese.
