MANILA, Philippines — PXP Energy Corp. is further beefing up its asset portfolio in the country despite persistent challenges and uncertainties in the oil and gas industry, its top executives said.
PXP chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan and PXP president Daniel Stephen Carlos said the company is studying and exploring new oil and gas projects within the Philippines for “potential acquisition or farm-in agreements.”
“By leveraging its experience in exploration and production, PXP aims to identify high-potential assets that align with its strategic objectives and offer opportunities for value creation,” they said in a joint message to stockholders.
Through prudent management and strategic tie-ups, the listed firm is also poised to capitalize on opportunities that will drive sustainable growth and improve shareholder value moving forward, the officials said.
In May, PXP entered into a P1.56-billion deal with Hong Kong’s Tidemark Holdings Ltd. for the sale to PXP of the latter’s 20 percent stake in Forum Energy Ltd. (FEL).
Tidemark is a wholly owned unit of listed Atok-Big Wedge Co. Inc. Both Tidemark and PXP are shareholders of FEL, the operator of the Petroleum Service Contract (SC) 72 Recto Bank in the West Philippine Sea.
“Aside from streamlining both PXP and Tidemark’s interest in FEL and in the SCs held by it, this significant event will facilitate future discussions with potential partners once PXP is allowed to resume its activities in SC 72 and SC 75,” Pangilinan and Carlos said.
SC 72 and SC 75 Northwest Palawan – both primary assets of PXP – remain under force majeure amid the escalating tensions in the contested waters.
As a result, PXP’s plans to conduct further assessments of the hydrocarbon potential in these two areas, including drilling two wells in the Sampaguita Field in SC 72, were disrupted.
“While waiting for positive developments, PXP turned its attention to its other SCs in Northwest Palawan and Cebu, as well as in new areas where PXP can participate through bidding or farm-in,” the PXP officials noted.
The company saw its consolidated net loss widen to P77.2 million in 2023 from P32.3 million in 2022, following lower margins in Galoc operations and higher overhead and interest expenses.
As such, attributable net loss ballooned to P97.4 million from P36.1 million, while core net loss climbed to P42.5 million from P22 million.
Consolidated operating revenues were also down to P63.2 million in 2023 from the P74.1 million recorded a year earlier.
PXP is primarily engaged in the exploration, maturation and production of hydrocarbon resources. It has interests in various petroleum SCs in the country, held directly and through its major subsidiary, FEL.
It also owns a 100 percent controlling interest in Pitkin Petroleum Ltd., an upstream oil and gas company registered in the United Kingdom.
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