Chinese Pressure On Vietnam Over South China Sea Border Dispute Has Forced Vietnam To Cancel Contracts With Oil Firms

The Diplomat: China’s Pressure Costs Vietnam $1 Billion in the South China Sea

Vietnam is compensating international oil companies after cancelling their contracts in the dispute region over pressure from China.

Vietnam has agreed to pay around a billion dollars to two international oil companies after cancelling their South China Sea operations following pressure from China. A well-placed oil industry source has told The Diplomat that Vietnam’s state-owned energy company PetroVietnam will pay the money to Repsol of Spain and Mubadala of the United Arab Emirates in “termination” and “compensation” arrangements. In a statement, a Repsol spokesman said he “would not be willing to confirm or deny the figures” but an analysis of the company’s financial statements suggests that a very large amount of money is involved.

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Update #1: Oil Company Pulls Out of Vietnamese Oil Field as China Puts the Squeeze on Vietnam (RFA)
Update #2: Did China Block Vietnam Offshore Oil Contract? (VOA).

WNU Editor: Besides ramming Vietnamese boats (see above video), it is obvious that China is putting enormous trade and financial pressure on Vietnam over their South China Sea border dispute. But what has surprised me is how quickly Vietnam has folded, and are now almost begging China to be nice .... Vietnam asks China to control conflicts at sea (VNExpress).