PXP Energy, Cnooc to Explore South China Sea

Manila-listed PXP Energy is in talks with China’s Cnooc for oil and gas exploration in South China Sea, it said on October 19 in a stock exchange filing.

A subsidiary of Forum Energy, which is a unit of PXP, is negotiating a memorandum of understanding with Cnooc under the aegis of an agreement signed between Philippines and China in November 2018. The companies are yet to agree on any definitive agreement, PXP said.

Philippines unitarily lifted a six-year-old moratorium on oil and gas exploration in the disputed waters on October 15. “With the impending depletion of our natural gas reserves in Malampaya, it is the department’s position that there is an urgent imperative to resume exploration, development, and production activities within our EEZ to ensure continuity of supply of indigenous resources in the country,” energy secretary Alfonso Cusi said after announcing the lifting of the moratorium.

Cusi stated that a ‘resume-to-work’ notice was issued in the areas of SC 59, 72, and 75 in the West Philippine Sea. SC 59 and 72 are operated by the state-run Philippine National Oil Company and Forum, respectively, while PXP Energy operates SC 75.