Philodrill ends West Linapacan petroleum service contract

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December 19, 2025 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines —   The Philodrill Corp. is seeking a new petroleum service contract to extend its exploration activities in the West Linapacan Block offshore northwest Palawan after its contract ended this month.

Philodrill, whose extended term for West Linapacan expired on Wednesday, has applied to the government for a development and production petroleum service contract (DP PSC) covering the exploration area.

 SC 14C2, or the West Linapacan Block, is a mature exploration block that contains two known oil-bearing structures, West Linapacan A and West Linapacan B.

 Discovered in the early 1990s, the West Linapacan A field was brought onstream in 1992 through three production wells, with output peaking at 18,700 barrels of oil per day.

 West Linapacan B, meanwhile, remains undeveloped, presenting potential for future development.

 Under the new contract, Philodrill and its partners plan to deploy modern technology to revitalize West Linapacan A and finally bring West Linapacan B into production.

 The DP PSC also proposes expanding the existing 17,724-hectare area to 82,000 hectares by incorporating adjacent open acreage to the east, the company said.

 The original SC 14, including SC 14C2, was awarded in December 1975. The Department of Energy then approved the final 15-year extension of the contract, extending its term until December this year.

 In October, Philodrill and its two consortia with tycoon Manuel V. Pangilinan’s PXP Energy Corp. bagged three contracts from the government.

 PSCs 80 and 81 span a total of 1.31 million hectares in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), while SC 86 encompasses 132,000 hectares in the northwest Palawan basin.

 Philodrill is set to conduct exploration activities in BARMM with PXP, Australia’s Triangle Energy (Global) Ltd. and the United Kingdom’s Sunda Energy Plc.

 The northwest Palawan contract, on the other hand, will be explored in partnership with PXP, Anglo Philippine Holdings Corp. and Forum Energy Philippines Corp.