Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi on Tuesday asked PXP Energy Corp. to proceed with its service contract commitments despite the still unresolved territorial dispute with China over the West Philippine Sea.
Cusi announced last month the lifting of the oil and gas exploration moratorium over the West Philippine Sea and issued the notice for the resumption of work in the service contracts.
“The lifting of the moratorium was unilateral. We did it based on what we need, and that is the country’s territory. We gave them instruction to resume work. They have submitted their work plan. We are going to make them accountable to it. If they fail to do it, we will take the necessary action,” Cusi said.
The energy chief said the service contractors including PXP Energy should resume work based on the work programs they submitted to the DOE.
PXP Energy received its “resume-to-work” notice from the DOE in relation to SC 72 (Recto Bank) while PXP’s subsidiary, Forum Energy Ltd. also received its notice for its operating interest in SC 75 in northwest Palawan.
