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MANILA, Philippines – Philippine National Oil Co.-Exploration Corp. (PNOC-EC) is looking to begin drilling activities for one of its Petroleum Services (SC) contracts covering an area off northwest Palawan in the last quarter of 2021.
This comes as President Rodrigo Duterte has already lifted the moratorium on oil and gas exploration in the resource-rich Western Philippine Sea.
“With the lifting of the moratorium, part of our plan focuses on the two service contracts that we have. One is within the disputed area and the other is well within northwest Palawan, that is, SC 57 and SC 59, ”PNOC-EC President and CEO Rozzano Briguez said at a Senate hearing on the proposed Department of Energy (DOE) budget. and its attached agencies on Tuesday.
READ: Duterte lifts moratorium on oil exploration in the Western Philippine Sea
“The schedule is in the fourth quarter of next year, we can start drilling, and if we are lucky, by 2026 or early 2027, the production of SC 57 will begin,” he also said.
Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate energy committee, welcomed this announcement as “very good news.”
“That is very good news because we definitely need to replace Malampaya as soon as possible, even though the schedule to extract that and produce is well beyond 2024,” the legislator said.
But at least it’s not that far. I really believe that this area has tremendous potential and it really is time for PNCO, being the national oil company, to start developing that area, “he added.
Briguez said PNOC-EC recently met with officials from the DOE and the Western Mindanao Command of the Armed Forces (WestMinCom) to discuss certain arrangements that should be observed as it proceeds with its drilling activities.
He said PNOC-EC was given 30 days to present its plans for the service contracts, but added that the DOE and WestMinCom will also meet individually with other proponents.
“But as for the question of whether what is PNOC-EC’s plan, now is it really to continue the 3D seismic study in SC 59, as well as agriculture in SC 57. We also plan to proceed to the other areas as well from the which we are interested in and it is SC 75 and 58. But right now the two main ones in which we are interested in advancing are 57 and 59 ”, he said.
According to Briguez, SC 57 has the highest potential among all its service contracts in terms of generating indigenous oil and gas for the country.
Information from the PNOC-EC website showed that SC 57 covers a total area of 7,200 km2 in northwest Palawan and is located about 50 kilometers northwest of the extreme northwest of Busuanga Island.
“Well, logically, since it is close to Malampaya, it is common knowledge that SC 57 could have the same potential as Malampaya,” Gatchalian said.
KGA
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