China’s bullying in our exclusive economic zone at the West Philippine Sea is hurting our economy, particularly the energy sector. It is disrupting exploration and development of oil and gas. Whatever resources may be there will remain untapped; a tragedy given our urgent need for domestic energy sources.
Members of the Chinese Coast Guard were seen roving around the Rozul Reef in Palawan as they patrol the area on April 21, 2024.
This leaves us dependent on costly energy imports whose reliability is subject to geopolitical disturbances that are many these days. The Philippine government has long awarded Service Contract-72, covering Recto to Manuel V. Pangilinan’s PXP Energy Corp. and subsidiary Forum Energy Ltd. They have been ready to drill and they have lost money as Chinese gunboats chased Forum’s vessels away several times.
Bloomberg adds: “It’s the smaller nations in Southeast Asia which are suffering…Even with US support, Manila has found that pushing back on Beijing within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone – an area that extends 200 nautical miles from its coast – is a high-risk affair.” Otto Energy, an Australian firm, took over the service contract but also withdrew, because as Bomasang wrote in his biography, “the perception that the government agencies involved in approving and processing permits had become too bureaucratic and there was too much red tape.”
SC 55 is now under ACE Enexor Inc., the oil and gas exploration and production unit of the Ayala Group. Difficult to imagine Ayala would risk very large amounts to drill enough wells to confirm commercial deposits. Big risk taking isn’t Ayala’s game. Maybe if Ricky Razon joins the consortium, it just might move, hopefully soon because we need a Malampaya replacement quickly.
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