The government will secure oil and gas exploration activities in western Palawan amid the territorial dispute with China, an energy official said Friday.
Energy Undersecretary Giovanni Carlo Bacordo said the standing order from Malacanang was that the moratorium on oil and gas exploration activities in the West Philippine Sea had been lifted and the parties could proceed with the projects.
Bacordo allayed concerns over the safety and security of oil and gas companies that wanted to conduct drillings in the West Philippine Sea.
“That’s part of our mandate…My role as the undersecretary of security is to ensure that these oil and gas explorations will proceed without any security impediments,” he said at the sidelines of the Norway-Philippines Maritime and Energy Conference.
Bacordo said, however, that exploration companies such as PXP Energy Corp. needed to file a request with the Department of Energy if it wanted to lift the force majeure on oil and gas exploration activities in Service Contracts 72 and 75 in the disputed area.
“We’re waiting for the companies who have those service contracts to submit [applications on] when they will push through with their [activities],” Bacordo said.
PXP is an upstream oil and gas company incorporated in the Philippines with shares listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange.
PXP announced in April it put on hold the exploration activities for SC 72 and SC 75 which are both located within the WPS until all relevant government agencies issued clearances.
PXP is the operator of SC 75, while Forum (GSEC 101) Limited is the operator of SC 72.
PXP earlier said it received a directive from the DOE under the Duterte administration to “put on hold all exploration activities for SC 75 and SC 72 until such time that the Security, Justice, an Peace Coordinating Cluster has issued the necessary clearance to proceed.”
Bacordo said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was keen on resuming oil and gas exploration in the country.
He said while the DOE had approved the companies’ bid to declare force majeure, the companies should also initiate the application for the lifting of such declaration.
“They were the ones who declared the force majeure. It was approved by the department. They have to submit now when they intend to lift the force majeure,” Bacordo said.
“The companies will have to manifest their intention, give us their timeline,” he said.
He said Nido Petroleum, which holds Service Contracts 6B and 54, already submitted its work program and received approval from the DOE.