Xi’s Fleet Is Winning the South China Sea Energy Fight

This was supposed to be the year that Vietnam reaped the benefits from one of its largest natural gas discoveries.

An estimated 150 billion cubic meters of the fuel, enough to power a city the size of Hanoi for decades, was discovered 50 miles (80 kilometers) from Vietnam’s central coast in 2011. If all had gone to plan, the “Blue Whale” project led by Exxon Mobil Corp. would have gone online late last year.

On the other side of the South China Sea, the Philippines has long eyed the energy riches off its western coast as a way to reduce its growing ...