l INTEREST in the off-shore petroleum resources of South-East Asia was
manifested in the 1960s when development in off-shore technol- ogy
allowed oil companies to search beyond prospective land areas. The
dramatic increases in oil prices in the early 1970s but more
particularly the events of 1973 and 1974, when world oil prices were
quadrupled by the oil exporting nations and major supply cutbacks were
experienced by certain developed nations, further heightened this
interest. Cost/price relationships had not only improved and made
off-shore oil in hitherto less attractive areas commercially
prospective; nations that were net importers and whose international
exchange reserves were strained by the high import costs of foreign oil
also found it prudent to begin looking for indigenous resources and to
encourage such search. The search for and discovery of petroleum in
South-East Asia on the scale in which it has been conducted in the last
ten years was new to the region. It was natural, therefore, for students
of South-East Asia to raise questions about its progress, questions
concerning in- ternational relations, social impacts, and economic
policy im- plications. The purpose of this study is to try and answer
the question: 'What are the potentials for conflicts or cooperation
among nations arising from the search for petroleum resources in the
seabeds of South-East Asia?' The problem of conflicts or cooperation
among nations is a topic that has many facets and may involve a
multitude of issues, for example, legal, economic, technical, security,
social, etc.
