Philex Petroleum eyes renewable energy venture

MANILA, Philippines – Philex Petroleum Corp.,  the upstream oil and gas unit of listed Philex Mining Corp., is eyeing to invest in the renewable energy (RE) sector after it proposed to change its company name aimed at diversifying its income resources, its top official said.

Last month, Philex Petroleum announced it is changing its name to PXP Energy Corp. This allows the firm to engage in businesses related to petroleum and other sources of energy.

Other energy investments may include the RE sector, Philex Petroleum president Daniel Stephen Carlos told The STAR.

“On the change in name to PXP Energy Corp., we are not discounting the possibility of going into RE projects in the near future,” he said.

Philex Petroleum has yet to secure shareholder and regulatory approval for the change in name and the amendment to its Articles of Incorporation.

Currently, the company is operating at a net loss because of the low oil price environment and as most of its oil and gas prospects have yet to start production.

It has several projects under force majeure, namely Service Contract (SC) 72 Reed Bank offshore west Palawan and SC 75 in offshore Northwest Palawan Basin because these projects are located in the disputed West Philippine Sea.

Apart from these projects, Philex Petroleum is proposing to start drilling SC-14 by the middle of 2016 and the Peru Block Z-38 located in offshore Tumbes Basin, where Pitkin has a 25 percent participating interest, soon.

So far, the consortium operating SC-14 and Peru Block Z-38 have no definite plans on drilling schedules within the year due to low oil price environment, Carlos said.

“The SC14 consortium is still assessing the oil situation, especially the crude price, so no definite plans yet on Galoc drilling. Perhaps next month the group will meet again to decide,” he said. “On Z-38 no drilling plans this year but operator Karoon continues with drilling preparation activities.”

In the first quarter of 2016, Philex Petroleum cut its losses from P20.4 million in the first quarter of 2015 to P11.8 million due to its cost reduction efforts.

Last year, it registered a net loss of P87.5 million, 61 percent lower than the P225.6-million net loss in the previous year.