OREANDA-NEWS. November 30, 2012. Philex Mining Corp., majority owner of oil explorer Forum Energy Plc., said it will pursue talks with state-owned China Offshore Oil Company Ltd. over the development of oil and gas reserves in the West Philippine Sea, despite the recent leadership change in the world’s second- largest economy.

“Hopefully we can get a response from them with the change in leadership,” Philex Mining chairman Manuel Pangilinan told reporters over the weekend.

Forum Energy confirmed huge deposits of oil and gas at the Sampaguita fields within the Recto Bank covered by Service Contract No. 72.

China’s ruling Communist Party named Xi Jinping as the head of the party, succeeding president Hu Jintao.

Pangilinan said it would be difficult to immediately renew talks with CNOOC in the light of the recent leadership change.

CNOOC is China’s largest producer of offshore crude oil and natural gas and one of the largest independent oil and gas exploration and production companies in the world.

“You have to allow a bit of time, because this will give the new leader a chance. It will take a little bit of time to get everything over the table, so to speak. We have to be a bit patient,” Pangilinan said.

Pangilinan said they were still hoping to get CNOOC as a possible joint venture partner for SC 72 which involves an 8,800-square-kilometer area in offshore west Palawan.

Pangilinan earlier said they were not yet entertaining other third parties until discussions with CNOOC came to a conclusion.

“Let’s wait for reaction of CNOOC before we entertain discussion with any party,” Pangilinan said.

Pangilinan said having CNOOC as a partner could help defuse the political tensions hounding SC 72.

“I cannot also predict the political situation, but if, and that is a speculative if, they are a state-owned clearly identified with China. So I’m assuming the political aspects would recede in the background,” Pangilinan said.

Pangilinan said there was no definite timeframe yet to conclude talks with CNOOC but Philex hoped to revive talks early next year.