I’ve just seen a report that the Service Contract 55 (SC 55) exploration well planned by a consortium including Otto Energy and Trans-Asia and operated by BHP has hit a snag with permits in Palawan. Apparently, the provincial government has required that BHP submit to them a socioeconomic development plan for Palawan, and this has not been done. Without provincial approval, BHP cannot obtain the critical Strategic Environmental Plan (SEP) clearance from the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development (PCSD), which is a requirement to obtain their permit to drill the well in a way that does not damage the environment of Palawan, albeit the well is offshore and some distance from mainland Palawan. On the assumption that BHP have already secured a drilling rig (an expensive and often hard to get hold of piece of equipment), then this inability to obtain an SEP clearance must be causing them quite some inconvenience.