The Philippines has suspended operations at a South China Sea natural gas project because it is also claimed by China and the dispute is before a UN tribunal, its contractor said Tuesday.

UK-listed Forum Energy said the Philippine energy department’s order halted its exploration activities at the Reed Bank section of the sea, as of December 15 last year.

“Forum… today confirms that the Philippine Department of Energy has granted a force majeure on Service Contract 72 because this contract area falls within the territorial disputed area of the West Philippine Sea,” said its mother firm Philex Petroleum.

The area “is the subject of an United Nations arbitration process between the Republic of the Philippines and the People’s Republic of China”, according to the Philex disclosure released by the Philippine Stock Exchange on Tuesday.

…Julius Cesar Trajano, a senior analyst at Singapore-based S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, said suspending exploration was in keeping with the Philippine government’s decision to resort to UN arbitration.