Energy giant is set to begin selling its offshore-China assets this month, the latest in a series of divestments in Asia. The company is looking to raise up to $10 billion globally from asset sales, a big chunk of which will come from its Asian upstream operations, as part of a broader effort to cut costs and adapt to an environment of lower oil prices.

Demand for gas in expanding rapidly in Southeast Asia and Vietnam is no exception. LNG is in demand as an energy source for industrial parks around Ho Chi Minh City in the country's south. There are plans to build LNG facilities, including at the port of Thi Vai near the city.

The Philippines relies overwhelmingly on imports to fuel its fast-growing economy. That reliance will grow further in a few years when the main source of domestic natural gas runs out, so the clock is ticking for it to develop offshore fields that China shows no sign of loosening its grip on.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ 10 fast-growing members, with a combined $2.6 trillion economy, dire energy needs and rising military budgets, are a prime market for Russia’s top exports: hydrocarbons, energy technology and weapons.

About $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year though the energy-rich, strategic waters of the South China Sea, where China's territorial claims overlap in parts with Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.

"On the issue of territory and disputes over maritime delineation, China does not accept any dispute resolution from a third party and does not accept any dispute resolution forced on China."

The Chinese, through a statement by the Foreign Ministry last Sunday, said the two countries “have overlapping claims for maritime rights and interest.”

“South Africa’s oil refineries are not ready and will not be ready to produce Euro 4 standard fuel, let alone Euro 6, which the world is moving to by 2017 or 2020 in preparation for the introduction of more fuel-efficient vehicles,” he said in an opinion piece in Johannesburg-based Business Report newspaper Tuesday. “Our present crude-oil stocks are suitable for producing products of lower specifications, which means we need to stockpile higher-quality grades of crude oil.”

Last month, the state-owned Southern Gas Corridor Company (SGCC) raised $1bn in a 10-year eurobond at 6.875% yield. However, it met only half of its original plan.

According to documents prepared by the oil ministry and obtained by NGE in mid-March, South Pars produces a little less than half of Iran's total raw gas, meaning Iran's total raw gas production was above 260bn m3 in the last fiscal year.