The announced location of the drilling rig is totally within the exclusive economic zone and continental shelf of Vietnam, about 119 nautical miles (221 km) from Ly Son Island off the central Vietnamese province of Quang Ngai and 18 nautical miles south of Tri Ton Island of Vietnam’s Hoang Sa (Paracel) archipelago.
PetroVietnam, the national oil group, has also released a statement saying that on May 2, CNOOC put the drilling rig HD 981 into operation about 120 nautical miles from Vietnam’s coast and within the country’s exclusive economic zone and continental shelf.
The fact that CNOOC operates the rig in this location has violated Vietnam’s sovereign and jurisdictional rights according to the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, PetroVietnam said.
On May 4, PetroVietnam sent a letter to the president and general director of CNOOC that strongly opposed the violation and demanded that CNOOC stop the operation of the drilling rig and move the platform out of Vietnam’s waters.
The above action by CNOOC goes against the cooperative spirit between the national oil and gas groups of both countries, the practice of international oil and gas activities, and the friendly and cooperative principles between Vietnam and China, PetroVietnam said in the letter.
PetroVietnam requests that CNOOC not repeat similar actions in the future.
The Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has issued a statement objecting to China’s illegal operation of a drilling rig in Vietnam’s waters in the East Sea.
PVN.VN
