VIETNAM

Hanoi to Drill for Oil in Disputed Area: Vietnam has started to drill for oil and gas in an offshore tract that China has awarded to an American exploration company, industry sources said last week. The state-run oil monopoly PetroVietnam is drilling an exploratory well in a part of the South China Sea that Crestone Energy Corp., based in Denver, is surveying for the Chinese government, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Officials at PetroVietnam and VietSovPetro would not comment on the report. The Chinese Embassy in Hanoi offered no immediate response. Vietnam and China both claim the area of 25,155 square kilometers known in Chinese as Wan’an Bei 21 and in Vietnamese as Tu Chinh. The well is the first Vietnam has drilled in the disputed area, and it marks an intensified effort by Hanoi to counteract Chinese claims to a large swath of territory.