Idemitsu, Inpex to Work with Petrovietnam in South China Sea

Hanoi, Aug. 2 (Jiji Press)--Vietnam's state-run Petrovietnam Oil Corp. said Wednesday that it has concluded a contract with Japanese oil companies Idemitsu Kosan Co. <5019> and Inpex Corp. <1605> on a joint oil and gas field project near China-claimed waters in the South China Sea. The project is aimed to start production in July-September 2020. Idemitsu and others have been carrying out exploration with Hanoi's permission. The Chinese government may question the project, which targets areas near a China-claimed border line some 300 kilometers southeast of the southern Vietnamese city of Vung Tau, observers said. "We believe it won't breach the line," a Japanese source involved in the project said. Amid tensions between Vietnam and China in the sea, Spanish gas and oil giant Repsol SA earlier this year abandoned an oil project approved by the Vietnamese government. END