ABSTRACT
Joint development is a concept that is mostly discussed and referred to as inter-state cooperation over the offshore oil and gas in a designated sea area under dispute among related parties. Until now successful practices have only been developed bilaterally. However, it is unpredictable how joint development could be managed multilaterally even though there have been trilateral attempts in areas with overlapping claims, such as the 2005 China, Philippines, Vietnam trilateral agreement on seismic survey in the sea area around the Spratlys. The environmental security aspect is pertinent in the SCS. Since 1990 a series of workshops on Managing Potential Conflicts in the SCS have been held in Indonesia under the auspices of the Research and Development Agency within the Department of Foreign Affairs. The initiative is the brainchild of Ambassador Hasjim Djalal of Indonesia, a leading authority on ocean affairs and one of the most influential participants at the Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea.
