The Department of Energy said it will proceed with oil and gas development in other areas of the country with an eye on foreign and domestic investors as it awaits the resumption of talks with China for a possible joint exploration of the West Philippine Sea.
“The agreement was to resume negotiations or resume talks. So we do not have any agreement on moving forward yet with the actual carrying out of activities in the Rector Bank,” Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla said in a briefing on Monday.
“In the meantime, we are proceeding with oil and gas development in other areas of the country… We will be open to foreign and domestic investors carrying out development activities. As far as those are concerned, we will be able to go ahead,” he said.
The Philippine National Oil Company-Exploration Corp. (PNOC-EC) has already issued an invitation for potential farm-ins to several of its service contracts.
The agreement to restart talks with Beijing for a possible joint exploration was reached during the bilateral meeting of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. with Chinese President Xi Jinping last week.
Lotilla said the DOE will wait for guidance from the Department of Foreign Affairs as to “the timing and the subject matter of the resumption of talks and even the venue of the talks.”
“Our Presidents have agreed in principle, and we do not expect them to negotiate the details at this particular point. What it establishes is a healthy environment for the talks to take place that there is, at the highest levels of both the Philippine and Chinese governments, a commitment to move forward the discussions,” the energy chief added.
Lotilla said both parties “agreed to resume discussions at an early date, building upon the outcomes of previous talks.”
The Philippines terminated the talks for joint oil and gas exploration with China in June last year because of constitutional constraints and issues on the country’s sovereignty.
The Philippines on July 12, 2016, won its petition against China before the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague, Netherlands after the court invalidated Beijing’s supposedly historic rights over nearly the entire South China Sea, including the West Philippine Sea.
China, however, has refused to recognize the 2016 PCA ruling.
Meanwhile, Philippine Ambassador to China Jaime FlorCruz on Monday expressed hopes that the recent meeting between Mr. Marcos and Xi will yield more job opportunities for Filipinos, particularly customer service providers.
“For example, in the call center industry—many Chinese information technology companies rely on and need customer service. But because they have weak English staff, we might have an agreement with Chinese IT companies to hire Filipino workers to become their backbone in their call center,” he said.