Robin hopes for ‘positive’ results from WPS joint exploration
SENATOR Robinhood “Robin” C. Padilla has high hopes for “positive” results from oil and gas exploration activities in the Philippines – especially in the West Philippine Sea (WPS) – soonest after learning of reported discussions for joint exploration with China in the area.
Padilla said there is no time to lose for the Philippines to discover and exploit such resources due to the possible shortage of energy supplies in the coming year.
“I hope there will be positive results,” Padilla said at the hearing of the Senate for the 2023 budgets of the National Power Corp. (Napocor), Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC), and Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM).
He added the policy of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. that the Philippines will be “friends to all (and) enemy to none” when it comes to foreign policy should be a “big help”.
At Friday’s hearing, Padilla asked PNOC Exploration Corp. Vice President for Upstream Jaime Bacud if there was any development about the President’s pronouncement favoring a joint exploration with China.
Bacud replied that, as far as he knows, there may be talks on the matter involving the Department of Energy (DOE). “Ang hope namin na maayos po yan (Our hope is that this will be ironed out),” he said.
On Thursday, Padilla disclosed that when he and fellow senators met with Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian recently, one topic was the joint exploration for gas and oil in WPS.
Padilla authored Senate Resolution No. 9, calling on the President to resume joint oil and gas exploration discussions in the West Philippine Sea.
Padilla said Huang informed them that China would be open to talks about joint exploration in WPS and that it “will remain ready to coordinate with us to resolve issues there.”
Meanwhile, PNOC President Jesus Posadas said there may be a chance of opening avenues for the Philippines to receive “help” from other countries like Iran regarding the oil supply.
“It’s the President’s move today that as per his principle of ‘we are friends to everybody and enemies to none,’ I think that will open up a different venue,” said Posadas.
“Napakagandang balita noon (That is good news),” replied Padilla, who said he had spoken to representatives of Iran last year and was told that Iran was ready to help supply oil to the Philippines.
