China and the Philippines are slowly moving forward on a bilateral arrangement regarding the South China Sea, though they continue to face obstacles. On March 2, a presidential spokesman for the Philippines said the country has identified two sites for potential joint oil and natural gas exploration with China . This development comes in the aftermath of the countries' second bilateral maritime consultation in mid-February. At that meeting, both sides expressed their desire to move forward with joint mechanisms in the areas of fisheries, energy and marine scientific research, and they established a technical working group to tackle the energy issue. The potential exploration sites include one area, SC-57, outside of disputed waters near the Philippines province of Palawan, as well as the SC-72 field, located in Reed Bank, which is claimed by both the Philippines and China.