PNOC-EC to sell 20% of Service Contract 63 stake

The PNOC-Exploration Corp. (PNOC-EC), the oil and gas exploration subsidiary of state-owned Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC), will sell 20 percent of its stake in Service Contract 63 located in Northwest Palawan and offshore of Sabah.

In compliance with Executive Order No. 556, PNOC-EC said it would get a venture partner for the said SC.

After the sale, PNOC-EC’s share in SC 63 block will be trimmed to 30 percent. The remaining 50 percent of the block is owned Nido Petroleum Ltd.

PNOC-EC said interested parties should submit their letters of intent (LOI) on Nov. 4, 2008.

SC 63 was awarded to PNOC-EC and Nido Petroleum on Jan. 16, 2006.

The SC 63 consortium recently commenced preliminary technical work on the area which involves 1.06 million hectares.

The group is currently discussing the opportunity to accelerate the subsurface evaluation of SC 63, which contains the Aboabo-1 gas discovery located in the southern sector of the block.

PNOC-EC said it would conduct a pre-selection conference on Nov. 07, 2008 at 10 a.m. at PNOC EC head office, Bldg. 1 Energy Center, Merritt Road, Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City.

Deadline for submission of proposals is on Dec. 8, 2008 at 5 p.m.

PNOC-EC said it reserves the right to accept or reject any or all proposals at any time, waive any minor defects therein, accept the offer it deems most advantageous to it and to annul the selection process, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected participating party or parties. -  Donnabelle Gatdula