DOE awarded SC 58 to PNOC EC on 12 January 2006. The SC 58 block is a deep water acreage covering an area of 13,440 km2 located in offshore Northwest Palawan, between SC 38 and SC 57. Nido Petroleum Philippine Pty Ltd. farmed-in in 2006 and acquired 50% participating interest and operatorship.
About 6,500 km of 2D seismic data acquired in 1978 to 1996 are available in the block. To acquire new data Nido Petroleum’s facilitated a large seismic campaign in 2006 and late 2007-early 2008 generating 3,184 km 2D and 4,953 km pseudo 3D seismic data. In 2012, additional 861 km 2D seismic data was acquired. The interpretation of the seismic data resulted in the identification of several prospects and leads. To mitigate exploration risks and identify the most attractive prospect to drill additional G&G activities were conducted such as seabed coring with multi-beam bathymetry in 2010 and the seismic inversion/ amplitude versus offset project in 2011.
In January 2015, DOE granted force majeure to SC 58’s work commitments under Subphase 3 (SP3). The suspension period is effective from 15 December 2014 until the date when DOE notifies Nido Petroleum to commence exploration activities that should be in accordance to the final resolution on the arbitration proceedings between Philippines and China. Following the lifting of the suspension of all exploration activities in the West Philippine Sea on 12 October 2020, DOE lifted the SC 58 Force Majeure effective 16 October 2020. However, due to the Covid-19 global pandemic and current oil prices, DOE approved a 1-year Force Majeure to SC 58 from 16 October 2020 to 16 October 2021.