Page 11 - AsianOil Week 42

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contested waters. Beijing has refused to recog- With the government having given the
nise the ruling, preferring to ramp up its military green light to resume work, PXP has wasted
presence within the region instead. little time in trying to rebuild momentum,
Duterte has argued that the Philippines needs to announcing on October 19 that it was in
negotiate with Beijing rather than adopt a unilateral ongoing negotiations with CNOOC over the
approach, raising the spectre of an unwinnable war development. PXP said Forum was handling
as a consequence of a more aggressive policy. the talks, though both sides have yet to reach a
However, politics are not the disclosable definitive agreement.
only motivator behind the decision US oilfield services provider
to open the door to exploration, Weatherford has previously esti-
with Manila increasingly con- With the mated that SC 72 contain 2.6-8.8
cerned by an imminent decline of trillion cubic feet (62.3-249.22bn
national gas production. impending cubic metres) of gas.
“With the impending deple- depletion of PXP, meanwhile, operates SC 75
tion of our natural gas reserves in with a 50% interest and has previ-
Malampaya, it is the department’s gas reserves ously said it intends to acquire 3D
position that there is an urgent seismic data over selected leads
imperative to resume exploration, in Malampaya, once the ban had been lifted. The
development and production company completed its Sub-Phase
activities within our EEZ to ensure there is an 1 work commitment in December
continuity of supply of indigenous urgent imperative 2015, at which point force majeure
resources in the country,” Cusi said. was declared.
to resume PNOC, which operates SCs 57
Seizing the initiative and 59, announced its own explo-
Cusi said the DOE had issued exploration, ration plans on October 20.
“resume-to-work notices” to ser- PNOC-Exploration Corp.
vice contractors working in ser- development and (PNOC-EC) president Rozzano
vice contracts (SC) 57, 59, 72 and production Briguez told a senate budget hear-
75, after exploration efforts were ing that initial studies suggested SC
suspended on the back of strained 57 could hold up to 1.8 tcf (50.98
bilateral relations. bcm) of gas. The acreage contains
Forum Energy, a subsidiary of PXP, oper- the Calamian oil and gas prospect and is located
ates SC 72 with a 70% stake and has been in near close to Malampaya, which is estimated to
talks with CNOOC over the acreage for a hold 2.9-3.2 tcf (82.13-90.62 bcm).
number of years. PXP notes on its site that the CNOOC bought a 51% stake in Calamian in
licence has been under force majeure since 2006 and Mitra Energy, now Jadestone Energy,
December 2014, owing to the South China Sea acquired a 21% interest in 2006.
dispute, but that Forum aims to drill two wells Duterte signed Executive Order 80 in 2019
over the Sampaguita field. ending the company’s obligation to hold bid

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