THAI-VIET JOINT DEVELOPMENT PACT PROPOSED

Viet Nam appears to be receptive to Thailand's proposal to resolve long disputed Gulf of Thailand claims to acreage believed to be gas prone. Senior Vietnamese officials, including Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Co Thach, during talks in Hanoi, concurred with Minister of the Thai Prime Minister's Office Korn Dabbaransi that solutions leading to petroleum exploration in the disputed area, which covers about 6,000 sq km in the central gulf, could be worked out.

Feb. 11, 1991

3 min read

Viet Nam appears to be receptive to Thailand's proposal to resolve long disputed Gulf of Thailand claims to acreage believed to be gas prone.

Senior Vietnamese officials, including Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Co Thach, during talks in Hanoi, concurred with Minister of the Thai Prime Minister's Office Korn Dabbaransi that solutions leading to petroleum exploration in the disputed area, which covers about 6,000 sq km in the central gulf, could be worked out.

But Vietnamese officials did not readily accept a proposal from Korn, one of Thailand's key petroleum policy makers, to use as a model the same scheme Thailand and Malaysia concluded to resolve similar boundary disputes in the South China Sea.

After more than a decade of negotiations, Thailand and Malaysia last year agreed to set aside the 7,300 sq km disputed territory as a joint development area (JDA) to be developed equally (OGJ Oct. 22, 1990 p. 23).

Vietnamese officials told the Thai minister they need to study the idea. The two countries agreed to set up a joint working group to study the issue, including the JDA concept.

Korn is believed to be first high ranking Thai official to make progress on the issue of the sensitive boundary disputes with Viet Nam, which have barred foreign oil companies from operating in the disputed area.

Thai explorationists rank the region's hydrocarbon potential as good.

JDA TO BOOST E&D

The Thai minister contends using a JDA concept will accelerate exploration and development in the area, as opposed to continuing diplomatic efforts to redefine boundaries.

Korn proposed Thailand and Viet Nam declare the entire disputed area jointly owned, with all mineral resources developed there split equally between the two countries.

Their two governments then would assign state owned oil companies and foreign operators to explore for and develop hydrocarbons within the JDA, Korn said.

Analysts see benefits for both sides. Hanoi's efforts at economic reform would get a boost with a new source of revenues, and Thailand would have access to another potential source of natural gas to meet its fast growing domestic demand.

Thailand also wants to pursue a JDA concept with Kampuchea to resolve territorial disputes with that country in the Gulf of Thailand. But with continuing uncertainty of developments in that war torn country, Thai officials believe this is not the right time to bring up the matter.

Seismic surveys indicate several large, gas prone structures in the disputed waters of the central gulf.

Unocal Corp. unit Unocal Thailand operates a cluster of commercial natural gas fields near the disputed boundaries.