Manila Bulletin
By MYRNA M. VELASCO
August 27, 2012, 5:51pm
MANILA, Philippines — Forum Energy is eyeing to tap an international oil company (IOC) as a third partner in the Recto Bank exploration venture, Philex Petroleum Corporation Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan has hinted in an exclusive interview.
“I would like at least to have a third partner, seeing something that proceeds with CNOOC (China National Offshore Oil Corporation); and assuming that, we’d like to see an international oil major to be part of the equation.”
Philex Petroleum is majority stakeholder of United Kingdom-headquartered Forum Energy plc, which is the operator of Service Contract 72 covering the Recto Bank oil and gas exploration block.
For the partnership arrangements being pushed, Pangilinan admitted that their future move would be to convince all parties “to agree to it; and for the government giving consent to it.” He did not disclose yet which global oil firm is being eyed for any farm-in deal in SC 72.
Pangilinan has noted that the tie-up explored initially with CNOOC has been a “commercial partnership.”
He stressed that “when we’ve met (with CNOOC) in May, it was quite productive. They wanted to explore the notion of a commercial partnership.”
When asked on follow-through negotiations with CNOOC on the partnership prospect, Pangilinan noted that he defers commenting further for now.
He emphasized though that the stance of both parties will consider a lot of things in the negotiation table, hence, they would have to proceed cautiously with it.
“For this, you have to deal with foreign government…you have to be expert in Chinese affairs. We have to play it by ear. We have to understand how they operate, how they make decisions,” Pangilinan has enthused.
He added that in exploring that deal with CNOOC, it was also preeminent in Forum Energy’s concern to consider the Philippine government’s interest in the whole process. “Of course on our side, we have to appreciate what is important to our government and our country,” he said.
While mulling over options on tapping foreign partners for the Recto Bank venture, Pangilinan has re-affirmed that drillings at the block have to be deferred to next year because of the lack of rigs that they can contract for the activity.
He noted that they will correspondingly inform the Department of Energy (DoE) on that plan based on the 90-day notice set for petroleum service contractors on their drilling schedules.
Forum Energy has budgeted $80 million for the drilling of two wells at the Recto Bank this year. The company though is given until 2013 to accomplish that commitment under its seven-year work program submitted to the energy department.
The gas potential of the block was reported to be heftier than Malampaya’s yield, but the drillings have yet to confirm if the reserves are really of commercial scale. source
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