With a Chinese exploration ship docked in Batangas, the philippines, energy companies of China, the Philippines and Vietnam on Saturday celebrated the completion of seismic data acquisition in the South China Sea, witnessing the first milestone of international joint efforts to uncover energy resources in the region.

The seismic data acquisition, an initial work to detect geological structures of the seabed in one part of the South China Sea, was conducted by China Oilfield Services Limited (COSL) with its exploration ship codenamed Nanhai 502.

The ship accomplished the mission on Nov. 16, within only 75 days after it started the journey from Guangdong province of China, Li Xunke, vice-president of COSL told Xinhua. "Our process has been much faster than the given period of eight months," Li added.

There were 11,000 kilometers of sensor cable deployed on the seabed in this mission, covering an area of around 140,000 square kilometers, Li said, the data were collected smoothly and are ready to be processed and analyzed.

"Mutual respect and trust between the three countries guaranteed the milestone development of joint exploration in the South China Sea," said Zhu Weilin, vice- president of China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), the parent company of COSL.

The CNOOC is confident for the future cooperation with its Philippine and Vietnamese counterparts, hoping to bring peace and prosperity to the South China Sea, Zhu noted in his speech at the ceremony held on a dock at PNOC energy supply base in Batangas, 130 kilometers south to Manila.

Political tensions surrounding the South China Sea in the 1990s were history, said Eduardo Manalac, president of Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC) Exploration Corporation, adding that the current arrangement concerning the energy resources in the region is a win-win deal, which is a good solution to different opinions among "our Asian brothers in one family."

Meanwhile, PNOC expressed its expectation that the data collected by Nanhai 502 will be highly reliable. Manalac said the three governments' commitment to establish one team among China, the Philippines and Vietnam proved to be very successful and that open communication and discussion were seen in every stage of the joint efforts.

PetroVietnam, the Vietnamese partner in the joint exploration responsible for processing the collected data, also sent a written congratulation message to the CNOOC and PNOC at the ceremony.

The crew members onboard Nanhai 502 were praised and congratulated by the representatives from CNOOC, PNOC and PetroVietnam. Good-will toasts were everywhere during the ceremony.

CNOOC, PNOC and PetroVietnam signed an agreement in March to conduct seismic work programs in part of their politically disputed area of the South China Sea, setting off explosions to monitor the shock waves to uncover data of possible oil and gas reserves.

COSL won the contract for data acquisition with a competitive bid in August, thereafter Vietnamese and Philippine companies got the contracts for data processing and interpretation respectively. All three stages of the cooperation are subject to mutual supervision and consultation, according to the joint agreement.

The Joint Marine Seismic Undertaking in the South China Sea between the Philippines and China was signed during Philippine President Arroyo's visit to China in 2004. The agreement provides for a framework for conducting cooperative research by PNOC and CNOOC in certain areas in the South China Sea. Vietnam also became a party of the joint mechanism later on.

Source: Xinhua