PNOC-EC plans to begin gas drilling in Cagayan Basin by late 2023 or early 2024

The Philippine National Oil Company-Exploration Corp. (PNOC-EC) plans to begin drilling activities in the Service Contract 37, located in the Cagayan Basin, by late 2023 or early 2024. 

“Isa sa mga potential areas na pinag-aaralan ngayon is ‘yung Cagayan [Basin]. Kung madi-drill natin ‘yan next year and we have a discovery… pwede natin i-develop into another gas field,” PNOC-EC Upstream Division vice president Jaime Bacud said during a Senate panel hearing on the proposed 2023 budget of the country’s energy agencies.

(One of the potential areas we are looking at is the Cagayan Basin. If we can drill that next year and we have a discovery… we can develop it into another gas field.)

Bacud said the PNOC-EC hopes to start drilling in the SC 37 “by late 2023 or early 2024.”

“If the well becomes a gas discovery, we can develop that within three to five years for production of gas,” he said.

PNOC-EC holds 100% of the SC 37, which covers 360 square kilometers.

Apart from the Cagayan Basin, the state-owned firm holds 100% of the Service Contracts 57 (Calamian), 58 (West Calamian), and 59 (West Balabac).

Both Senator Sherwin Gatchalian and Senator Robinhood Padilla inquired about the government’s oil exploration efforts. 

The Senate Finance subcommittee E, chaired by Gatchalian, conducted a hearing on the proposed budgets next year of the PNOC-EC, P10.6 billion; National Power Corp., P32.2 billion; the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp., P167.5 billion; PNOC, P3.595 billion; and PNOC Renewables Corp., P2.169 billion. — VBL, GMA News