MANILA — The government is reviving the oil drilling operations of Nido Petroleum Philippines, President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. announced Tuesday, as his administration seeks for more sources of petroleum as prices rise.

Marcos said the Department of Energy approved Nido Petroleum Philippines Pty. Ltd.'s site survey for their drilling locations around the Caldao oil field in Palawan.

The firm is a technical operator of Service Contract 6B, which allows them to conduct surveys for their drilling operations "by the last quarter of this year."

Information from local oil exploration firm Philodrill showed that Nido has a 9.09 percent participating interest in the service contract as of December 2021.

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"The activities will pave the way for the drilling of 2 wells - 1 exploration and one appraisal, by the first half of next year," said Marcos in a statement.

The President said the Cadlao oil field could lead to "early oil production towards the second half of 2023." He noted that the area last produced oil in the 1990s "with over 11 million barrels."

Appraised recoverable volumes from the area, meanwhile, could range from 5 to 6 million barrels of oil, he added.

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"While it is a first step, it signals the Government's intent to maximize indigenous resources and has attracted strong interest from foreign investors in the Philippine upstream oil and gas sector," said Marcos.

During a press briefing, Malacañang said the move showed the President's commitment to find for indigenous oil resources. Previously, Marcos vowed to deviate from power resource importation under his term.

"Pinapakita [nito] ang commitment ng Pangulo na maghanap ng locally sourced oil products or oil exploration projects para matugunan yung pagtaas ng presyo ng langis," said officer-in-charge Press Secretary Cheloy Garafil.