Chinese president Xi Jinping and Vietnamese communist party general secretary Nguyen Phu Trong
Vietnam battles for IOCs as China turns up the heat
China is intensifying its pressure on Hanoi to halt IOCs’ offshore drilling activities. Some have already withdrawn and others may follow
Vietnam is facing the prospect of losing heavyweight IOCs from its offshore, as China amplifies pressure to rein in E&P activity that it views as challenging its maritime interests along the so-called Nine Dash Line in the South China Sea. Chinese pressure has this year forced Russia’s Rosneft to shelve a planned drilling campaign, while both Repsol and the UAE’s Mubadala, partners on the Ca Rong Do field, have relinquished offshore stakes to state-owned PetroVietnam—in return for what is understood to have been a compensation package worth around $1bn. Spain’s Repsol announced on 12 June that it would relinquish its 51.75pc stake in block 07/03 and blocks 135-136 in Vietnam. The IOC dis
Also in this section
15 May 2025
Financial problems, lack of exploration success and political dogma cause uncertainty across much of the region
14 May 2025
The invisible hand of the market has seen increasing transparency but much more needs to be done to build a better understanding
13 May 2025
A fall in Venezuelan output drives overall production lower, as Saudi Arabia starts to slowly bring more crude to the market
12 May 2025
With the gas industry’s staunchest advocates and opponents taking brutal blows, the sector looks like treading a path of insipid indifference
