DOE launches new energy contracting round

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Energy is eyeing new investors to explore potential coal and petroleum fields around the country under a new petroleum contracting round set for launching within the first quarter of the year, its top official said.

The DOE is giving interested investors until March and April this year to submit applications for another round of petroleum and coal exploration contracts under the so-called Philippine Energy Contracting Round 5 (PECR 5), Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla said.

He said the tentative submission for coal contract applications is in March and April for petroleum contract bids.

“We are still finalizing the dates (for the launch). We are also verifying and finalizing specific areas that will be up for bidding,” Petilla said.

He said the department would launch PECR 5 within the first quarter of the year.

A regular activity conducted by the DOE, the PECR is a transparent and competitive system for awarding service contracts.

The goal is to showcase the petroleum exploration opportunities in the country and to attract energy investors to develop the country’s indigenous oil and gas resources.

An existing service contract off Palawan could be part of the next round if proponents fail to pursue the project, Petilla said.

The energy chief was referring to Service Contract 55. BHP Billiton Petroleum is its operator but has already pulled out from the drilling of the Cinco-1 well.

BHP’s partners, Otto Energy and Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Development Corp., have not given the energy department any word yet on whether or not they would take in a new partner to pursue the project.

Otto Energy has expressed interest in taking BHP’s stake.

In 2011, the DoE launched PECR 4 covering 15 blocks or an area of approximately 100,339 square kilometers (km).

The blocks have an average size of 6,700 square km each, located mostly in the country’s frontier regions.