PXP Energy trims loss

MANILA, Philippines — Pangilinan-led listed upstream oil and gas firm PXP Energy Corp. said it has trimmed its net loss in the first quarter to P2.7 million due to higher profit from the Galoc operations.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange yesterday, PXP Energy said core net loss declined to P1.4 million from P5.6 million last year.

The company recorded consolidated petroleum revenues of P18.8 million versus nil in the same period last year after it completed the lifting of 144,897 barrels at $78.1 per barrel in Service Contract (SC) 14C-1 Galoc.

Meanwhile, overhead expenses declined from P18 million to P11 million.

For its projects, PXP Energy said it would continue to coordinate with the government on the resumption of activities in both SC 75 and SC 72.

SC 72 is operated by Forum GSEC 101 Ltd., a 79.13-percent subsidiary of PXP Energy’s unit Forum Energy Ltd. with a 70 percent participating interest. PXP has a total economic interest of 54.36 percent in SC 72.

SC 75 in northwest Palawan is directly operated by PXP Energy with a 50 percent participating interest.

“Meanwhile, the Group shall continue to pursue exploration work with respect to its other projects in the Philippines, including SC 40 and SC 74,” it said.

SC 40, or the North Cebu Block, is located in the Visayan Basin, which the Department of Energy considers as among the most prospective in the country next to the Northwest Palawan Basin.

Forum Exploration Inc., a 66.67 percent subsidiary of Forum, is doing a study which involves depth modeling and identification of gravity prospects and leads.

For SC 74, or the Linapacan block, in northwest Palawan, PXP Energy is looking to do a seismic reprocessing following the recommendation from a quantitative interpretation study.

Last April 6, PXP Energy and Forum received the DOE directive “to put all on hold all exploration activities for SC 75 and SC 72 until such time that the Security, Justice, and Peace Coordinating Cluster (SJPCC) have issued the necessary clearance to proceed.”

PXP Energy said this was the first time it learned of this requirement for a clearance from the SJPCC before undertaking the work obligations that the DOE had required PXP and Forum to undertake in respect of SC 75 and SC 72, respectively, following the lifting of force majeure by the DOE on October 14, 2020.

In compliance with the DOE directive, PXP Energy and Forum suspended all activities in both SCs and asked the DOE to issue a written confirmation by April 10 if they could resume exploration activities.

With no advice from the DOE, PXP Energy and Forum decided to stop all their exploration activities.

This is “to mitigate losses arising from what now appears could be an indefinite suspension of exploration activities,” PXP Energy said earlier.