Posted on 06/30/2005 4:50:54 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
Japan to grant E. China Sea drilling rights to Teikoku Oil in July
TOKYO, June 30 KYODO
The government is likely to give Teikoku Oil Co. concessions in July to conduct experimental drilling in the East China Sea, Vice Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Hideji Sugiyama indicated Thursday.
The Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry began discussions earlier this month with the governors of Kagoshima and Okinawa prefectures, which have state-designated jurisdiction over the sea area, and the governors are expected to present their views on the issue within one month, Sugiyama said.
Not long after talks with the governors come to an end, procedures for Teikoku Oil to acquire the test-drilling rights are expected to be completed.
On April 28, the oil company submitted applications to the central government for the test-drilling rights at three sites covering a combined 400 square kilometers in the East China Sea, following METI's decision earlier that month to unfreeze the concession granting procedures.
The sites are located just east of what Japan claims is the median line separating the 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zones of Japan and China in the East China Sea. A Chinese consortium has been exploring for natural gas in an area close to the line.
Teikoku Oil originally applied for exploration rights in the East China Sea in 1969 and 1970 but the government had shelved the applications because of unsettled demarcation in the sea between Japan and China.
China has not accepted the median line, saying its economic waters stretch to the end of a continental shelf. It has held talks with Japan to settle the dispute over demarcation, but the two countries have yet to reach a breakthrough.
==Kyodo
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