The Department of Energy (DOE) has allowed Nido Petroleum Philippines Pty. Ltd to proceed with its site survey of their drilling locations under Service Contract (SC) 6B in the Palawan Basin.
“While it is the first step, it signals the Government’s intent to maximize indigenous resources and has attracted strong interest from foreign investors in the Philippine upstream oil and gas sector,” President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said in a statement.
The site survey will pave the way for the drilling of two wells, one for exploration and one for appraisal by the first half of 2023.
Under SC 6B or the Caldao oil field, there is an expected five to six million barrels of recoverable volumes of oil.
“What is significant is that the government’s commitment to preserve and maintain the investment incentives for service contractors under Presidential Decree (PD) No. 87 has been met with renewed confidence and strong interest by local and foreign investors in the oil and gas sector,” Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla said in a press briefing on Wednesday,
The DOE has also allowed Nido Petroluem to proceed with their site survey under SC 54, located in the Northwest Palawan Basin.
“I am confident that this trend will continue as we reaffirm to prospective investors the openness of our economy to foreign and local investors, and assure them of the continued stability of our legal framework specially in the upstream oil and gas sector,” Lotilla said.