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 Some have already withdrawn and others may follow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