The Philippines, faced with an approaching energy crunch and a maritime dispute with China overshadowing one of its biggest offshore gasfields, has outlined plans to invite oil and gas companies to develop 14 petroleum blocks elsewhere in the archipelago nation.
在能源短缺不断逼近、与中国的海上纠纷又为该国一个最大的海上气田蒙上阴影的情况下，菲律宾制定了邀请石油和天然气公司开发这个群岛国家其他地方的14个石油区块的计划。
A Philippine official told the Financial Times that the government was planning a roadshow in the UK, the US and Singapore during the third quarter of this year to drum up investors’ interest in the blocks.一名菲律宾官员告诉英国《金融时报》，菲律宾政府计划今年第三季度在英国、美国和新加坡举行路演，以吸引投资者对这些区块的兴趣。The Philippine oil sector has been largely overlooked because of the reputation it has earned for saddling energy companies with red tape. An unresolved dispute with Beijing in the South China Sea has prevented development of some of the country’s largest offshore gas reserves.菲律宾石油行业未引起外界多少兴趣，是因为能源企业在该国受到官僚程序掣肘——菲律宾的这一特点是名声在外。而菲律宾与中国在南中国海(South China Sea)尚未解决的纠纷，妨碍了该国一些大型海上气藏的开发。The blocks on offer will be on the Philippine side of the “nine-dash line”, China’s notional sea border, which covers most of the South China Sea, said Donato Marcos, undersecretary with the Philippine Department of Energy. “These are pre-determined areas of petroleum, meaning there are data already available in the Department of Energy,” he said.菲律宾能源部副部长多纳托.马科斯(Donato Marcos)表示，招标的这些区块位于“九段线”的菲律宾一侧。“九段线”是中国主观划定的海上边境线，该线将大部分南中国海划入中国版图。马科斯表示：“这些是预先确定的石油区，即相关数据在能源部已可以找到。”Chinese ships harassed a Philippine survey ship in 2011 prospecting for gas on Service Contract (SC) 72, one of four Philippine offshore blocks that lie partly or wholly in disputed waters that China claims. In 2015, Manila halted exploration in the area when it pursued international arbitration over its maritime dispute with China, which was awarded in its favour in 2016.2011年，中国船只骚扰了一艘在第72号服务合同(SC 72)区块勘探天然气的菲律宾勘探船，SC 72是菲律宾部分或全部位于中国提出领土声索的争议水域的四处海上区块之一。2015年，菲律宾暂停该区域勘探，就与中国的海上纠纷寻求国际仲裁，并在2016年获得了对其有利的裁决。The area in disputed waters, known as the Reed Bank, contains what experts believe are some of the richest gas deposits in a fast-growing nation of 105m people. Rodrigo Duterte, the populist president, has said he wants to invest tens of billions of dollars in infrastructure in the coming years.专家认为，位于争议水域（Reed Bank，中国称礼乐滩）的该区块，拥有菲律宾储量最丰富的一些气藏。拥有1.05亿人口的菲律宾目前发展速度很快。该国的民粹主义总统罗德里戈.杜特尔特(Rodrigo Duterte)已表示，他希望未来数年投资数百亿美元建设基础设施。Alan Peter Cayetano, Philippines foreign affairs secretary, flew to Beijing last week to discuss with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, a legal framework acceptable to both the Philippines and China.菲律宾外交部长阿兰.彼得.卡耶塔诺(Alan Peter Cayetano)上周飞赴北京，寻求与中国外长王毅商讨出一个菲中双方都能接受的法律框架。With compromise unlikely, the Philippines is focusing on undisputed areas, mostly in the country’s north and south. The Philippines needs new sources of energy because of its reliance on a single gas deposit at Malampaya, off the western island of Palawan, which is expected to run dry by 2030.由于达成妥协希望不大，菲律宾正把重点放在不存在争议的、主要位于该国北部和南部的区域。菲律宾需要新的能源来源，因为目前该国仰仗的天然气气藏只有一处，是位于西部巴拉望岛(Palawan)附近海上的马拉帕雅(Malampaya)气田，预计这处气田将不晚于2030年枯竭。Harry Roque, Mr Duterte’s spokesman, said earlier this month that the Philippines was open to joint exploration with China on SC 72, but Philippine officials say they are only open to projects that would recognise Philippine sovereignty over the area. Oil industry and geopolitical analysts said it was unlikely that China, which has also moved to stop Vietnam from exploring in disputed waters, would accept these terms.
杜特尔特的发言人哈里.罗克(Harry Roque)本月早些时候说菲律宾愿与中国联合勘探SC 72区块，但菲律宾官员表示他们只参与那些承认菲律宾对该区域拥有主权的项目。石油行业和地缘政治分析人士表示，采取行动阻止越南在争议水域勘探的中国，不太可能接受这些条款。“The frame of mind in the DoE is to get China to be a service contractor, which is a non-starter for China, because that would be an implicit recognition of sovereign rights [of the Philippines],” said Jay Batongbacal, director of the University of the Philippines’ Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea.“能源部的想法是让中国成为服务承包商，对中国而言这毫无可能，因为那等于默认（菲律宾的）主权，”菲律宾大学(University of the Philippines)海事与海洋法研究所(Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea)所长杰伊.巴东巴卡尔(Jay Batongbacal)说。