The Department of Energy has granted the request of ENEX Energy Corp. subsidiary, Palawan55 Exploration and Production Corp. for force majeure relief due to the operational and financial risks associated with conducting drilling operations in the Service Contract 55 contract area in the West Philippine Sea.
“Pursuant to Section 26.01 of SC 55, the DOE found basis to place SC 55 under force majeure from 6 December 2022 until such time that a clearance to proceed with exploration activities in the West Philippine Sea has been issued by the national government,” ENEX said.
Palawan55 owns majority stake in SC 55, which holds the Cinco prospect, estimated to contain 1.3 trillion to 2.4 trillion cubic feet of gas and 45 million barrels of oil.
SC 55 is a deep-water block in the southwest Palawan Basin covering an area of 9,880 square kilometers.
ENEX has been scouting for partners willing to take a minority stake to derisk the development of SC 55.
DOE has already approved the updated proposal of the SC 55 consortium to develop the Cinco-1 well and Palawan55 was supposed to drilling of an appraisal well last April which was initially estimated to cost $40 million to $50 million. Alena Mae S. Flores
