MANILA, Philippines - Publicly-listed PNOC-Exploration Corp.(PNOC-EC) is studying the prospects of expanding its exploration business abroad.
PNOC-EC compliance officer Joe Eijansantos told reporters that a number of foreign companies that have approached them for possible tie-ups for oil and gas exploration projects in Thailand and Indonesia.
He said they had talks with Pearl Oil (Thailand) Ltd. and Indonesia-based exploration firm to explore business overseas.
“They were invitations only and management has not made any decision on both yet, Eijansantos said. But he admitted the company may seriously consider the offer.
He said they are now conducting a thorough review of the business proposals of the two foreign exploration companies.
Aside from the possible international venture, he said PNOC-EC is now assessing four blocks in the Gulf of Thailand being farmed out by Pearl Oil, a subsidiary of oil and gas firm Pearl Energy owned by Mubadala Development Co., the investment firm of the Abu Dhabi government in UAE.
Pearl Oil operates a petroleum service contract area in Ragay Gulf in the Southeast Luzon basin, together with PNOC EC.
PNOC-EC’s shares of stock are 99.78 percent owned by the Philippine government through state-owned Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC), its mother firm, with the remaining 0.22 percent held by public shareholders.
In its early years, PNOC-EC served mainly as a catalyst in petroleum exploration, focusing its activities in frontier onshore areas in Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon and Samar.
In 1994, PNOC-EC’s three-megawatt San Antonio gas power plant in Echague, Isabela was commissioned, providing electricity to more than 10,000 households. The operation of the facility made PNOC-EC the country’s first producer of indigenous natural gas.
Encouraged by its successes, PNOC-EC started to take bold moves in the 1990s by expanding its operations in the offshore areas of Northern Palawan, Ragay Gulf and offshore Mindoro .
During this period, the company became either a lead operator or a partner in petroleum exploration joint ventures with local and foreign companies.
Recently, PNOC-EC recently completed the engineering review of the Kuala Simpang Timor onshore block in North Sumatra.
The exploration company has a coal mining business in Indonesia in order to ensure a stable and price-competitive supply of coal for the Philippine market.
Last year, PNOC-EC signed a memorandum of agreement with Putra Asyano Mutiara Timur for the conduct of technical, legal and economic due diligence to determine the viability and commerciality of operating a coal mine project in the company’s concession area in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia.
PNOC-EC is being lined up for sale in the third quarter of this year. It has a 10 percent stake the $4.5-billion Malampaya natural gas project in Northwest Palawan.