HO CHI MINH CITY (10 September 2012). In the race to produce oil from disputed boundaries in the South China Sea, the challenge lies in the fact that there may just be too many solutions to agree and the clock is ticking while billions of dollars are lost from delaying the exploration of up to 3.79 trillion cubic meters of undiscovered conventional gas and estimated up to 213 billion barrels of oil. The Center for Energy Sustainability and Economics will be running the second annual International Boundary Disputes and Unitisation Summit on 18-19 October 2012 at the Sheraton, Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam.

“It seems like a ‘Finders, Keepers’ race to produce oil from disputed boundaries in South China Sea,” says Frank Mercado, Director, Center for Energy Sustainability and Economics. “But when we met last year and examined closely, governments, state and independent negotiators and oil & gas companies have concluded that there are means to peaceably explore and commercialise exploration units in disputed areas. This international conference aims to achieve the vision of expediting the process of dispute resolution and commercialise oil and gas reserves in an amicable and efficient manner within contested boundaries.”

Invited Guest of Honour to the high-level summit is His Excellency Ho Xuan Son Vice Minister and Chairman of National Boundary Committee, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. As ASEAN is at the forefront of major changes and paradigm shifts in the E&P sector, about sixty (60) governments, state negotiators and oil and gas companies are expected to attend this conference from these countries:

• Indonesia
• Malaysia
• Philippines
• Cambodia
• China
• Canada
• Australia
• Tanzania
• Timor-Leste
• Nigeria
• Brunei
• United Kingdom
• United States
• Among many others

Chairing the summit is international boundary disputes veteran, Andrew Derman, Partner, Thompson & Knight. “Tensions have escalated as Southeast Asian countries compete over territorial claims involving the enormous oil and gas potential of the Spratly Islands and the other territories in the South China Sea. Countries fear that that their neighbours will unilaterally exploit, without sharing, valuable oil and gas deposits. There is another way -- a peaceful way -- that encourages the exploitation and sharing of such natural resources. Countries can agree to disagree over their territorial borders and use commercial methods, that transcend politics, to find solutions to allow oil and gas to be commercialized,” says Mr Derman. As a globe-trotting attorney, Derman has worked in over 50 countries representing numerous publicly held, privately owned and national oil and gas companies. He has published five books and four dozen articles on oil and gas issues; has been listed since 2005 in Wood/White Inc’s The Best Lawyers in America and since 2003 in Thomson Reuters’s Texas Super Lawyers; is a frequent teacher and lecturer in conferences, seminars and universities; and is Board Certified in Oil, Gas and Minerals Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. Derman has assisted clients in commercializing oil and gas that straddle field borders in Europe, North America, South America, Africa, Australia and Asia. He will lead a workshop on 18 October pertaining to Oil & Gas Common Fields and Boundary Dispute Resolution.

Register today by visiting www.arcmediaglobal.com/ibdu or emailing the IBDU Secretariat at [email protected] for more info.

The Center for Energy Sustainability and Economics is an industry research centre (IRC) that works to bring top executives together in communities of learning and practice to act as a catalyst for generating high-value energy business insight and channel top expertise to where the world needs it most.