PNOC-EC to speed up dev’t of Balabac oil exploration proj

PNOC-Exploration Corp., the oil and gas exploration subsidiary of state-run Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC), will speed up the development of Service Contract 59 in West Balabac, Palawan to boost plans for a secondary share offer, a top company official said.

PNOC-EC president Rafael del Pilar said the company would likely start bidding out SC 59 next month.

He said the bidding would enable the company to attract strategic joint venture partners for the oil exploration project. 

The actual bidding to farm out SC 59 would be held early next year, he said.

“The bidding documents will be released within November, and we will give them a couple of months to submit a bid. And hopefully there will be activity within next year,” Del Pilar said.

The West Balabac area lies in the Malaysian border where several offshore oil and gas fields trending northeast are currently in production off the coasts of Sabah and Brunei. 

Del Pilar said PNOC-EC is willing to farm out at least 60 percent of SC 59 shares to prospective investors.

He said while they have preliminary data on SC 59, the level of potential gas and oil reserves is yet to be determined.

“The seismic data are already available and are with the technical development level,” he said.

Based on initial data, there is an active petroleum system existing in offshore Malaysia and Brunei and continues northward into the western Balabac area.

The data indicated that these probable oil reservoir areas lie mostly in deepwater and are located along the trend of the oil and gas fields of Sabah and Brunei.

The Department of Energy (DOE) is trying to aggressively push for the 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 self-sufficiency.

The DOE awarded SC 59 to PNOC-EC in Jan. 2006 as part of efforts to promote oil and gas exploration in the country. 

PNOC-EC was established in 1976 to actively engage in the country’s search for indigenous sources of energy.