The three companies and the Russian embassy in Hanoi did not immediately reply to requests for comment.Ĭhina’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Mao Ning, responding to a question about the standoff, said China had sovereignty over the Spratly Islands and its adjacent waters, and jurisdiction over relevant waters. China has launched competing bids to licence those two blocks. It is also regularly crossing blocks 132 and 131 that Vietnam has licensed to Vietgazprom, a joint-venture between Russia’s giant Gazprom GAZP.MM and PetroVietnam. In the last weeks since May 7, the Chinese research ship, at times flanked by a dozen vessels, has been moving largely across gas block 04-03, operated by Vietsovpetr, a joint-venture between Zarubezhneft and PetroVietnam, according to vessel-tracking data shared with Reuters by South China Sea Chronicle Initiative (SCSCI), an independent non-profit. Less than two years after that, Rosneft sold its assets in the South China Sea to Russia’s state-owned firm Zarubezhneft, which operates some of the gas fields where the current dispute is under way. The 2019 stabdoff lasted for more than three months and largely targeted a block then operated by Russian state oil firm Rosneft ROSN.MM. Read Also: Cluster of Chinese Vessels Spotted Near Russian Rig off Vietnam – Ship MonitorsĬhina claims most of the energy-rich waters of the South China Sea, including areas that are within Vietnam’s EEZ. He said China’s conduct and Vietnam’s reaction were a “worrying escalation”. The Chinese vessel Xiang Yang Hong 10 began operating in Vietnam’s EEZ on May 7, representing the most significant incursion since 2019, according to Ray Powell, who leads Stanford University’s Project Myoushu on the South China Sea.

HANOI/BEIJING, May 26 (Reuters) – A Chinese research ship and five escort vessels were in Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) on Friday close to gas blocks operated by Russian firms in the South China Sea, a day after Vietnam urged the ships to leave.

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