Upstream oil and gas firm PXP Energy Corp. is bracing for a long journey as it develops three newly awarded petroleum service contracts (PSCs). 

While the contracts promise new exploration opportunities, no less than Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan warned that turning them into producing assets will take years.

“It is a long process so we have to be patient, we have to see many years… for this. It’s gonna be a long process and probably complicated,” PXP Energy Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan said in an interview with reporters on Monday.  

Pangilinan said the initial investments for these PSCs are “small,” equivalent to “several million dollars,” but did not provide exact figures.

Last October, the Department of Energy (DOE) awarded PSCs 80 and 81 to a consortium that brings together international and local players: Australia’s Triangle Energy (Global) Limited, UK-based Sunda Energy Plc, and Philippine firms PXP Energy and The Philodrill Corp. 

The two resource areas, co-managed by the DOE and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region’s Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources, and Energy, are part of a broader effort to revive petroleum exploration in the southern Sulu Sea. PSC 80 spans approximately 780,000 hectares, while PSC 81 covers around 532,000 hectares.

Meanwhile, PSC 86 was awarded to an all-Filipino consortium composed of The Philodrill Corp., Anglo Philippine Holdings Corp., PXP Energy, and Forum Energy Philippines Corp., covering 132,000 hectares in the Northwest Palawan Basin.

Beyond these three PSCs, PXP Energy is actively involved in Service Contract (SC) 14C-1 Galoc near Palawan, while also holding stakes in SC 75 in Northwest Palawan. Forum Energy Ltd., where PXP holds both direct and indirect interests, has stakes in SC 72, also in Northwest Palawan. Both areas, however, remain inaccessible due to ongoing territorial disputes with China.

“We are slowly learning about the business of oil exploration and development. It’s a very complex business and long-term. It requires a lot of money, it’s really for the big boys. We’re too small for them but we do our bit in terms of oil exploration,” Pangilinan said.