By: Ronnel W. Domingo - 05:02 AM July 01, 2019
The Philippines’ efforts to rev up the exploration for
oil and gas in the country continue to attract interest from potential
investors, the Department of Energy (DOE) said, despite the prevailing
uncertainty due to the territorial dispute with China.
The DOE said in a statement that it had so far received
from 11 companies 21 requests for rights to look for petroleum reserves in
portions of the Recto Bank—itself a subject of territorial disputes—as well as
Sulu Sea, Palawan, Quezon, Albay and Mindoro.
These requests came in after the DOE launched the
Philippine Conventional Energy Contracting Program (PCECP) in November 2018.
Of the 21 total, the DOE said it had granted “area
clearances” to seven requests. This means there is no overlap between the areas
that the applicants want to explore.
“We need to increase exploration and development
activities in the Philippines so that our country can become energy
self-sufficient,” Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi said in a statement.
“The DOE is continuously pushing for the success of the
PCECP for the effective, responsible and reasonable development of all our
indigenous energy resources,” Cusi said.
Under the PCECP, the request and grant of area clearances
is one of two ways that exploration may be allowed through a service contract
with the DOE.
The other way is to choose areas that are already
identified or “pre-determined,” as opposed to areas that are “nominated.”
The PCECP opens to investors 14 predetermined petroleum
areas or blocks. The first one covers an onshore block within the Cagayan Basin
in Northern Luzon. Areas 2-4 are offshore blocks in the East Palawan Basin.
Areas 5-7 are offshore blocks in the Sulu Sea while Areas
8-9 are onshore blocks in the Agusan-Davao Basin.
Area 10 is an onshore block in the Cotabato Basin while
Areas 11-14 are offshore blocks in the West Luzon Basin, off Central Luzon and
Calabarzon.
The DOE said that among the seven companies that had
received clearances for their nominated areas, four had taken the next of step
of submitting their letters of intent.
Related to this, three companies have also taken the
subsequent step of publishing their nominated areas—which are in the Sulu Sea,
Northwest Palawan, and Ragay Gulf.
Nominated areas are to be subjected to challenges—within
60 days—from other prospective investors, giving the latter a chance to offer
the DOE better terms.
The challenge period for all three nominated areas
expires in the third week of August.
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