DOE suspends oil exploration project in Palawan

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Energy (DOE) has suspended another oil exploration project in Northwest Palawan amid a lingering dispute between the Philippines and China over the West Philippine Sea.

The DOE has granted a force majeure on Service Contract No. 75 (SC 75) as this service contract area is adjacent to SC 58 and SC72, PetroEnergy Resources Corp. (PERC) disclosed yesterday.

“Under the terms of the force majeure, all exploration work at SC 75 shall be immediately suspended effective from the end of its first sub-phase (SP-1) on Dec. 27, 2015 until the date the DOE notifies PERC to resume petroleum-related activities,” the disclosure read.

Earlier this year, the DOE granted a force majeure on SC 72 in Recto Bank and SC 58 also due to territorial disputes between the Philippines and China.

Due to the development, PECR has put on hold the second sub-phase (SP-2) of SC 75 “until further notice.”

“The terms of SP-2 and all subsequent sub-phases will be extended by the term of the force majeure. Further updates on SC 75 will be made as and when appropriate,” the firm said.

The consortium of SC 75 is composed of state-owned Philippine National Oil Co.-Exploration Corp. (PNOC-EC) with 35 percent, Philex Petroleum Corp. with 50 percent as operator and PERC with the remaining 15 percent.

The consortium bagged the contract in the DOE’s 4th Philippine Energy Contracting Round (PECR) in 2013.

The contract covers an area of 6,160 square kilometers in the offshore Northwest Palawan Basin.

Philex Petroleum said last year it acquired 2,237 line-kilometer of 2D seismic data. It noted processing of data on the oil and gas prospect was scheduled for completion on Dec. 27, 2015.