AsianOil: South China Sea tensions rise as Chinese vessels remain in Vietnam's EEZ

A Chinese research ship and five escort vessels remained in Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) on May 26 near fields operated by Russian companies in the South China Sea, despite the government in Hanoi urging them to leave on the previous day.

Tensions remain high between China and other territorial claimants in the South China Sea – a region that Beijing claims as almost entirely its own, based on old maps, including areas within Vietnam’s EEZ. China’s Xiang Yang Hong vessel began operating in the Vietnamese EEZ on May 7, representing the most significant incursion into the country’s zone since 2019. Chinese vessels remained in Vietnamese waters for more than three months four years ago, near a block which at the time was operated by Russia’s Rosneft. Rosneft later sold its assets in the area to another state-owned Russian company, Zarubezhneft.

The Xiang Yang Hong vessel has at times been flanked by dozens of vessels in the weeks since it entered the Vietnamese EEZ. It has mostly remained in the 04-03 gas block that is operated by Vietsovpetr, a joint venture between Zarubezhneft and PetroVietnam, according to ship-tracking data reported by Reuters.

If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping Asia’s oil and gas sector then please click here for NewsBase’s AsianOil Monitor.