The Philippines’ Department of Energy (DoE) may suspend or cancel Service Contract (SC) 55 that had been awarded to the consortium of BHP Billiton Petroleum, Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Development Corporation, and Otto Energy, if the latter fails to fulfil its obligations to the government. The SC 55 that is located near the Malampaya gas field in offshore Palawan includes the Cinco well. To date, no offshore drilling has been conducted in this well. The consortium had earlier requested for an extension to fulfil its contractual obligations. The DOE had responded by granting an extension till August 2013. The DOE will not extend this deadline any further: if operations do not commence within the stipulated time period, other interested parties would be invited to bid for the project.
