HONOLULU, Hawaii (via PLDT) -- Energy Sec. Jose Rene Almendras clarified that the new found site for oil exploration was not part of the contested Spratly Islands.

In press briefing here, Almendras said President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III was referring to the Recto Bank as the new site which is located in the northern part of Palawan.

“We just want to clarify that the President was referring to the Recto Bank which is not part of the Spratly Islands,” Almendras told the Manila-based reporters in a press briefing here Saturday evening, early Sunday afternoon in Manila.

Almendras said the Recto Bank is located within 80 nautical miles of the Philippines and more than 500 miles away from China and the oil exploration will be undertaken by the Forum Energy Plc of the UK.

He said his clarification would help prevent a misunderstanding with other nations which signed an agreement not to touch or develop any part of the disputed Spratly Islands.

“We don’t want to create a scenario that may project that we are not abiding the agreement,” said Almendras.

Earlier, President Aquino hinted at difficulties in developing the new found site for oil exploration in the northern part of the Philippines which could dwarf the reported gas deposits in Malampaya oil fields in Palawan because it is located in the contested islands in the West Philippine Sea.

But President Aquino is determined to develop the new found site in accordance with the existing international laws.

“We are working on steps to determine if they actually own them consistent with United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea,” said President Aquino.

The President made the disclosure after attending a business forum moderated by Diane Brady, senior editor of Bloomberg.

“There are substantial gas deposits that we believe are already on the proven scale at this point in time will dwarf the existing Malampaya oil fields,” said President Aquino.

The business forum with a theme Commodity Security for Economic Growth held at the Sheraton Waikiki here was attended mostly by Chinese nationals whose government has been engaged in a spat with the country over territorial disputes in the West Philippine Sea.

The event was part one of the activities of the on-going 19th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Economic Leaders Meeting.

It will be recalled that the Malampaya project employs state-of-the-art deepwater technology to draw natural gas from deep beneath Philippine waters.