Udenna unit set to end 7-year pause in Malampaya exploration

Udenna Corp. subsidiary Malampaya Energy XP Pte Ltd. on Friday said they were raring to pick up the slack left by exiting petroleum giants Shell and Chevron who did not drill new wells at Malampaya in the past seven years, adding that this could be done with their “own” team and funds.

“What Malampaya Energy brings [into the Malampaya project] is not only our own highly qualified team with hundreds of years of combined upstream experience, but also the agility and willingness to invest in growth together with our SC38 [or Petroleum Service Contract No. 38] partner PNOC-EC,” Belinda Racela said in a statement.

Racela was referring to state firm PNOC Exploration Corp., which holds a 10-percent stake in the Malampaya consortium.

Racela, a former asset manager and GM of strategy and planning at Chevron group, holds one of three seats of the Malampaya Energy’s upstream decision review board—which governs Shell Exploration BV (Spex) after having been acquired by Udenna in a transaction that is expected to be completed within this year.

She is also president of UC38 LLC, the entity that succeeded Chevron Malampaya LLC whose 45-percent nonoperating interest in the project was acquired by Udenna.

Racela said Malampaya Energy would continue delivering natural gas “retaining the world-class Spex team, reversing the seven-year hiatus on exploration activities.”

Earlier, the Malampaya consortium faced tax disputes with the government partly causing the lull in exploration activities.