THE Department of Energy (DOE) plans to hold road shows abroad to entice foreign investors to the upcoming public bidding round for petroleum exploration and development contracts.
Jose Rene Almendras, DOE secretary, said that the department is already finalizing a series of road shows to promote the new petroleum service contracts (SC) it will be offering in the Philippine Energy Contracting Round (PECR) 4.
“We will launch to inform potential investors of the sites to be bid out and at the same time address their concerns. We’re finalizing the schedule. By the end of the third quarter or early fourth, we should be able to award [the] SCs,” he said.
The DOE, in particular, plans to hold road shows for the PECR in the US, UK, Singapore and Australia sometime in July onwards.
The PECR is a regular public bidding exercise for energy contracts that the DOE introduced in 2005 to help spur private sector participation in energy exploration and development.
This year, the DOE has lined up 15 new petroleum sites; and three existing but non-performing projects that it earlier cancelled for auction by June 30 under the PECR 4.
The DOE chief said that they are also considering offering abandoned projects as some groups have expressed “interest to revive old areas.”
“ Even in the international scene, there’s so much interest in the Philippines’ oil exploration. And there are a lot and it’s quite a number. All the large exploration companies, some of which have yet to come here are now coming,” he said.
The government is banking on investors to help develop the country’s indigenous energy resources to reduce the country’s reliance on imported fuel.
At present, the country produces only less than 10 percent of its roughly 300,000 barrel daily oil requirement. Bulk of this demand goes to the transport sector, making local pump prices susceptible to price fluctuations in the international market.
Since last year, however, a number of petroleum companies have stepped up their exploration activities in the country thanks largely in part with rising oil prices and the DOE’s warning of revoking non-moving petroleum contracts.
EUAN PAULO C. AÑONUEVO
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