Filipino businessman Manuel Pangilinan said his group needs a foreign partner to search for oil and gas in parts of the South China Sea. His words came after the Philippines won its bid to render illegal Beijing's expansive claims in the disputed waterway.

Pangilinan chairs Philex Petroleum, the parent of Forum Energy, which has a 70% stake in Service Contract 72. The pact spells out exploration rights for Reed Bank, a part of the South China Sea that is within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone but also within what China calls the 'nine-dash line,' with which Asia's largest economy has claimed rights to most of the South China Sea.

It was this boundary line that an arbitral tribunal in The Hague last week 'concluded that there was no legal basis for China to claim historic rights to resources within.'

Reed Bank, a flat-topped undersea volcanic mountain, is estimated to contain around 470 billion cu. meters of gas and 416 million barrels of oil, according to reports. It could be an alternative to the Malampaya natural gas field, also near the Spratly Islands and currently the Philippines' main source of natural gas. Malampaya, developed by Royal Dutch Shell and Chevron, is expected to run out of its 76 million cu. meters of reserves by 2024.

Source: Nikkei Asian Review