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The inclusion of the previously unexplored Benham Rise into Philippine waters has stirred public interest as to the resources potential of this jurisdictional region.
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Benham Rise – The Rising Star of Philippine Resources? The inclusion of the previously unexplored Benham Rise into Philippine waters has stirred public interest as to the resources potential of this jurisdictional region. Benham Rise is a shallow bathymetric feature comprising a submerged extinct volcanic ridge located east of Luzon, at 16 degrees 30 minutes N, 124 degrees 45 minutes E. It has the size of about 250 km in diameter and rises over 2,000 meters (2 km.) above the sea floor, from below 5,000 meters (5 km.) to above 3,000 meters (3 km.) below sea level. The shallowest part, which is Benham Bank, is less than 50 meters deep. American surveyors who were the probable discoverers of the geological feature named the landform after Admiral Andrew Ellicot Kennedy Benham.
Figure 1 The bathymetric model of the Benham Rise Region. (Source: ECS Submission of the Republic of the Philippines) The Philippine Claim The Philippine Government based its claim on the Benham Rise on Republic Act No. 9522, also known as the Archipelagic Baselines Law, and asserted that on the basis of seismic and magnetic data and other geological features, the region is an extension of the Philippines’ continental shelf. The successful claim can be attributed to the quiet and diligent work and collaboration done by a team, which includes scientists and legal experts from the University of the Philippines through the National Institute of Geological Sciences (“UP-‐NIGS”) and the Institute of International Legal Studies of the UP College of Law (“UP-‐IILS”). It
started with a workshop in 2001 to assist the Department of Foreign Affairs and the National Mapping and Resource Information Authority (“NAMRIA”) with regard to the implementation of the Law of the Sea and discuss the requirements for claiming the extended continental shelf (“ECS”) areas for the Philippines. The late Dr. Teodoro Santos of UP-‐NIGS identified and proposed Benham Rise, then a relatively unknown area of the Pacific Ocean east of Luzon, as a possible ECS area. Dr. Santos has provided valuable insights for developing national policies on deep seabed mining and the continental shelf under the Law of the Sea, and represented the Philippines in important international scientific gatherings. The workshop resulted in an inter-‐agency Memorandum of Agreement among key government agencies and the academe to work together to prepare the ECS claims. NAMRIA conducted hydrographic surveys from 2004 to 2008 and thereafter the Philippines filed its claim for Benham Rise in 2008 in compliance with the requirements of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (“UNCLOS”). On 12 April 2012 the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (“CLCS”) of the United Nations adopted in full the Republic of the Philippines’ Submission for an ECS in the Benham Rise Region. In late May 2014, a team of marine scientists and divers from the UP Marine Science Institute (“UP-‐MSI”), Ateneo de Manila University and Xavier University led by Dr. Cesar Villanoy, explored the shallowest parts of Benham Rise’s ocean floor and collected artifacts and data from which plans on future expeditions can be charted. This led Senator Grace Poe to introduce Senate Resolution No. 707 on 09 June 2014 “Urging the Departments of Foreign Affairs and Energy and the UP Marine Science Institute to Conduct Short-‐ and Long-‐Term Scientific/Marine Research Studies and Exploration and Development Approaches on the Benham Rise”. On 23 July 2014, the UP Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea (“UP-‐IMLOS”) and the UP-‐MSI co-‐hosted a law and policy workshop on the exploration and development of Benham Rise. UP-‐IMLOS Director Dr. Jay L. Batongbacal, Legal Advisor and Delegate of the Philippine Extended Continental Shelf Project, presented a brief history of the application process before the CLCS while experts from the UP-‐MSI and UP-‐NIGS presented the findings from the initial expedition. Dr. Batongbacal explained during the workshop that under UNCLOS, the exploration and development of this new jurisdictional region involves: exclusive sovereign rights for purposes of exploring/exploiting natural resources (Art. 77.1) including mineral and other non-‐living resources of seabed and subsoil (Art. 77.4), sedentary species (Art. 77.4); exclusive jurisdiction over establishment of artificial islands, installations (Art. 80); and exclusive right to regulate/authorize drilling (Art. 81). The workshop participants discussed the policy implications and possibilities for exploring and managing the Benham Rise region especially with respect to marine environment, mining and petroleum, fisheries, and maritime security.
Benham Rise is believed to have immense deposits of manganese and natural gas. Government agencies and industry stakeholders are now trying to identify the resources and how best to develop them. But let’s look and ponder at present available data and the state of technology capable of harnessing the resources. Petroleum Resources The Department of Energy is open to the idea that exploratory projects in the Benham Rise may be included in the Philippine Energy Contracting Round. However, the landform is obviously volcanic in nature so there is a need to determine and test the extent of sediments that will generate petroleum. To begin with, there is scant geologic and geophysical data for grassroots energy exploration. Exploring in water depths of 2,000 to 3,000 meters through bottom sampling or drilling is quite challenging and thus geologically risky and expensive by industry standards. Private resource companies may be reluctant to spend exploration capital on a relatively untested area. More extensive studies requiring risk capital are necessary to confirm the presence of petroleum resources in commercial quantities in the area. An article in The Economist, (14 May 2009) mentioned that the slopes of the continental shelf can have abundance of methane hydrates, which are white, sorbet-‐like compounds that exist in profusion under the sea, perhaps containing more energy in total than all known deposits of fossil fuels. However, present technology makes it impossibly awkward to extract. Deep Seabed Mining The seabed under territorial and international waters is now considered the next emerging mining arena and the venue of the next “gold rush” by both governments and private industry. Three types of deep-‐sea mineral deposits have drawn interest -‐ seafloor massive sulphides (SMS), manganese nodules, and cobalt-‐rich crusts. Currently the most commercially feasible are SMS located in the Pacific Ocean, which are created by the activity of deep-‐sea hydrothermal vents. On the other hand, deep-‐sea manganese nodules can be recovered from the west Mariana and Philippine Basins. The Economist reported that the technology in the machines needed to carry out deep seabed mining is no longer exotic. Lying on the surface of the seabed, massive sulphide formations with high concentrations of copper, gold, zinc and silver may contain several million tonnes of ore. Miners are able to work 1-‐2 kilometers below water level because at this depth, technology developed for the offshore oil industry can be employed for mining using the deep-‐water pumps and suction pipes developed to bring subsea oil up to the surface. The petroleum industry has also developed remotely operated vehicles to make trenches for seabed pipelines, which can be adapted for cutting ore, even though it may lie much deeper. Deep seabed mining summits are now being held regularly as a forum for stakeholders, entrepreneurs and governments to set out their vision for the
future of the industry. UK Prime Minister David Cameron estimated that the seabed mining industry could be worth up to £40 billion to the United Kingdom (The Guardian, 14 March 2013). The president of the International Marine Minerals Society and noted Russian marine geologist, Dr. Georgy Cherkashov, linked the scramble for seafloor exploration licenses to the reality of “first come, first get,” saying the rush to secure the most promising sites represents “the last redivision of the world.” (New York Times, 09 July 2012)
Deuterium Delirium Jules Verne predicted in 1874 that hydrogen from water would be the fuel of the future. Deuterium, a fuel for fusion reactors and other high-‐tech uses can be extracted through a tedious and expensive laboratory process but some scientists, by virtue of the characteristics of the isotope, believe that huge deposits can be found in the deepest part of the ocean including that of the Philippine Trench. However, this energy source is highly controversial and dismissed as a pseudo-‐science fraud, and functional fusion reactors exist only in Star Trek. The South China Morning Post, (02 September 2004) reported that among those who lent credibility to the idea was then Senator Aquilino Pimentel, who brought the matter up for discussion in a congressional committee deliberation, and Communist Party spokesperson, Luis Jalandoni, who castigated the Philippine government for not exploiting "alternative energy sources" like the deuterium in the Philippine Deep. Bloomberg Business Week (24 October 2013) narrated that Imelda R. Marcos, widow of the late Philippine strongman Ferdinand Marcos, has by her own admission spent “millions of dollars a year” to secure an exclusive right to extract water from the Philippine Trench. According to Mrs. Marcos, Edward Teller the father of the H-‐Bomb first broached the idea of the country’s unknown treasure in 1971 during a visit to Manila. Mrs. Marcos plans to harvest the Philippines’ astonishingly vast reserves of deuterium lying in the lower reaches of the Philippine Trench concentrated by the tremendous pressure of one of the ocean’s deepest places. Imelda’s son Senator Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. even introduced Senate Bill No. 2593 on 10 November 2015 seeking to create a Hydrogen Research and Development Center which shall be managed, operated and maintained by the Department of Science and Technology. During a Congressional inquiry in 1988, deuterium as an energy source, was dismissed as a hoax by scientists led by the then dean of the UP College of Science, Dr. Roger Posadas. Dr. Posadas offered a scathing assessment of the enthusiasm for the potential of deuterium, saying the whole yarn was “a gauge of our country’s extremely unscientific culture and strong proclivity toward reliance on miracles as solutions to our national problems.”
Issues to Consider As the insatiable demand for minerals and energy surges bringing explorationists to once untouched deep-‐water frontiers, new technological developments are helping to drive forward this new industry. However as in any resource ventures, the challenges facing seabed exploration in the Benham Rise needs to be identified. No legal regime for deep seabed Mining. The Mines and Geosciences Bureau admitted that there are no administrative rules that will regulate deep seabed exploration and development of mineral resources. Currently the MGB issues Government Seabed Quarry Permits, which are clearly inapplicable and inadequate for such capital-‐intensive and high-‐risk operations. Government regulators should be able to come out with something similar to the "Mining Code", which refers to the comprehensive set of rules, regulations and procedures issued by the International Seabed Authority (“ISA”) to regulate prospecting, exploration and exploitation of marine minerals in the international seabed area. Based in Kingston, Jamaica, the ISA is an intergovernmental body established by the Law of the Sea Convention that was established to organize and control all mineral-‐related activities in the international seabed area beyond the limits of national jurisdiction, an area underlying most of the world’s oceans. Lack of data and technology The Philippines does not have the technology or the financial capability to explore or exploit the Benham Rise on its own. The country’s limitations open it to partnerships with foreign interests both government and private industry, offering opportunities for research and eventually shared exploitation of the resources. In this regard, the government has to enter into the necessary agreements with interested foreign governments and deep seabed mining companies from developed countries. Further, the information generated from research and exploration in the Benham Rise can also be vital for the exploration and development of resources in the seabed area beyond the limits of Philippine national jurisdiction. Environment For environmental advocates the idea of this emerging mining enterprise coming to fruition is concerning. Little is known about the biodiversity that exists deep below; some scientists suggest it would take 10-‐15 years of extensive research before we can even begin to understand this deep marine ecosystem. Marine experts, government representatives and campaigners alike want to see the “precautionary principle” applied, citing the serious environmental risks seabed mining poses. The scale of the potential environmental impacts has not been thoroughly studied and currently there is no system in place to protect the marine life of the high seas, despite the fact that the world’s governments have
long been committed to establish a global network of marine reserves. (www.greenpeace.org/international/deep-‐sea-‐mining) On the other hand, the role of “coastal stakeholders” should be identified and delineated. This is to determine if their consent is needed and compensation agreed to if mining activities are likely to impinge on fishing and other customary rights. Benham Rise was purportedly part of the culture of ancient Filipinos with ancient Catanduanes people have fished and roamed the area long before the colonial era and celebrated in local folktales, legends and poetry. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benham_Rise) Security matters Unlike offshore petroleum development projects undertaken in the West Philippine Sea that faces substantial difficulties in attracting risk capital given the political tensions with other claimants particularly China, Benham Rise is undisputedly peaceful and resources found in the area are free for the country to utilize and develop. China cannot establish direct claim over the Benham Rise, not with the Philippines in its way. While relations between Beijing and Taiwan have seesawed between aggression and attempts at rapprochement, in the event of reunification, China may use Taiwan as a stepping-‐stone and assert a counter-‐claim for the Benham Rise. Thus it is important that the Philippine government as this early stage assert a strategic stronghold on this maritime region with the possibility of putting up installations not farfetched. Conclusion As we move into an era of mining the deep-‐ocean floor, the world’s most remote and least understood environment, resource companies and state-‐sponsored resources ventures are working on overcoming the perceived challenges while environmental activists are keenly on guard. There is now significant interest in the ocean’s resources within territorial waters, particularly in the Pacific Ocean. The Benham Rise is the country’s latest frontier and will certainly open up an understanding of the adjacent seafloor currently under or being applied for exploration grants from the seabed authority. By undisputedly and unequivocally controlling resources rights in its jurisdictional waters, the Philippine government can fully exercise exclusive sovereignty by getting to the bottom of what lies beneath and zealously guarding the metes and bounds of this newly acquired territory. Fernando “Ronnie” Penarroyo is the Managing Partner of Puno and Penarroyo Law ([email protected]). He specializes in Energy, Resources and Environmental Law, Business Development and Project Finance.
