Government lines up 10 oil exploration contracts for bidding in November

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Energy (DOE) is set to bid out 10 oil exploration contracts under the  Philippine Energy Contracting Round (PECR) next month, a ranking DOE official said.

Energy Undersecretary Ramon Oca said they intend to start with the petroleum contracts’ bidding as soon as they finish awarding at least six more coal contracts this month.

Most of the areas that would be auctioned off, Oca said, are being identified under the Philippine Petroleum Resource Assessment Project (PhilPRA).

He said they expect interested bidders to point out areas in the PhilPRA  project.

“We want to use the PhilPRA as a basis in identifying petroleum areas that would be under the next PECR.

We do not want to go out of petroleum basins under the PhilPRA project,” Oca said.

The PhilPRA project funded by NORAD (Norwegian Agency for Development

Corp.) was undertaken in 2000 and was completed in 2002. It

published the first issue of the petroleum inventory of the Philippines.

Based on the PhilPRA, the country has 16 sedimentary basins representing

an area of over 700,000 square kilometers.

The Philippine government has embarked on an aggressive development

of the country’s energy resources through improved contracting and bidding schemes and enhanced fiscal incentives in pursuit of its quest to increase the country’s energy selfsufficiency.

In 2003, the DOE launched PCR-1 wherein exploration blocks near oil producing areas in Northwest Palawan and in vast frontier basins in Southwest and East Palawan, Sulu

Sea and Reed Bank were offered to investors. As a result, two blocks were awarded to BHP Billiton Petroleum under Service Contract 56.

Since December 2004, 16 petroleum exploration service contracts have been awarded with minimum financial resources amounting to $215.31 million committed to the proposed work program.

Continuing the gains of PCR-1, the DOE in August 2005 conducted another

PECR wherein it offered investors opportunities for exploration and development

not only of petroleum resources but also exploration and development of

coal and geothermal resources.