A deal struck earlier this month between Russia’s state gas giant, Gazprom, and Vietnam’s state oil and gas group, PetroVietnam, has geopolitical underpinnings aimed at China’s prowess in the South China Sea.
The 6 April Gazprom-PetroVietnam deal grants the Russian gas giant two licenses to explore the Moc Tinh and Hai Thach fields in the South China Sea off the Vietnamese continental shelf and gives Gazprom a 49% stake in the fields, which translates into some 55.6 billion of cubic meters of natural gas for Russia.
While the fields are in Vietnamese waters, the deal comes as China’s ongoing territorial disputes in the South China Sea are heating up and Russia’s presence is not incidental.
The deal with Vietnam comes only a month after Vladimir Putin was elected to the Russian presidency. Statements by Chinese officials are indicative of their concern and the links they make between the gas venture and wider territorial disputes.
“China hoped companies from countries outside the South China Sea region would respect and support efforts by directly concerned parties in resolving disputes through bilateral negotiations,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin.
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