RP to hold 2nd licensing round for oil, geothermal investors

The Philippines said Friday it plans a second licensing round in July for firms interested in hunting for oil and developing geothermal fields as part of the country’s plans to cut its dependence on imported oil.

The Philippines, which imports nearly all its daily oil requirement of 330,000 barrels, will also ask investors to submits bids for prospective coal exploration and development projects, Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla said.

"As an oil importing country, we need to brace ourselves for tough times," Lotilla said in a speech to the Makati Business Club.

The Government held its first licensing round last year for oil and geothermal blocks , but has yet to finalize contracts with qualified firms.

Energy Undersecretary Guillermo Balce said the government was finalizing a deal with a consortium led by Anglo-Australian diversified mining firm BHP Billiton, which last year bid for two oil blocks in the deepwater p;art of the Sulu Sea in the southern Philippines.

The government offered 46 oil and gas blocks to investors in March 2004.

Balce said the government was also in talks with a group made up of Japan’s Marubeni Corp. and PNOC Energy Development Corp. of the Philippines for the development of geothermal project at Mount Apo on the southern island of Davao.

"We plan to hold the second oil, geothermal and coal contracting round from July to September," Balce told Reuters.

He said the government planned to offer six to eight oil blocks and six to 10 geothermal blocks.

Each petroleum block covers an area of around 12,000 square meters, with several located off western Palawan island and in the Sulu Sea, Lotilla said.

The petroleum sedimentary basins located in these areas considered to be the most prospective in the Philippines for petroleum exploration," Lotilla said.

He said geothermal blocks will be bid out for power and non-power purposes, including salt-making, multi-crop drying and even for hot baths and spas.

The Philippines, which straddles a volcanic area known as the "Ring of Fire", is the world’s second largest geothermal producer, with installed generating capacity of 1,932 megawatts, next only to the United States, the energy departments says.

The Philippines has identified 35 untapped geothermal areas with an estimated generating capacity of 4,137 MW.

The government has said it aims to develop an additional 1,200 MW from geothermal fields in the next 10 years.

Geothermal accounted for 21 percent of the total Philippine power generation mix in 2002, second to the 33 percent for coal, according to the latest government data.

Naturals gas, mostly from the Malampay field, accounted for percent, with hydropower at 15 percent and – the vast bulk of it imported from the Middle East – at 13 percent.