Trans-Asia to participate in oil contracting round

MANILA, Philippines - Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Development Corp. is eyeing to participate in the Philippine Energy Contracting Round 5 (PECR 5), its top official said.

PECR 5 is the Department of Energy’s latest contracting round for coal and petroleum service contracts.

Trans-Asia president Francisco Viray said the company is looking at the areas to be offered under PECR 5.

“If there are opportunities, we will look into it and we will pursue it,” he said.

Trans-Asia senior vice president Raymundo Reyes Jr., for his part, said the company is eyeing at least one area under PECR 5.

The DOE launched last May an offer for 26 new areas for petroleum and coal exploration, which if found viable could reduce the country’s dependence on imported fuel.

A regular activity conducted by the energy department, 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.

The PECR 5 offers 11 areas for petroleum exploration mostly located in Luzon and 15 areas for coal exploration, largely concentrated in Mindanao.

Areas offered for petroleum exploration are in Southeast Luzon, Masbate-Iloilo, Northeast Palawan, Southeast Palawan, West Palawan, West Luzon while areas offered for coal exploration are in Surigao, Agusan-Davao, Zamboanga and Cotabato-Sarangani.

As for the timetable, the Review and Evaluation Committee (REC) has moved the last day of acceptance of PECR applications due to changes in schedule.

The committee moved the last day of acceptance of PECR applications as well as the opening of winners to Sept. 26 instead of the original timetable of Sept. 19 for coal applications.

Endorsement of winning applicants is scheduled on Nov. 21.

For petroleum service contracts, interested investors may submit their applications from June 2, 2014 to Feb. 27, 2015, DOE officials earlier said.

After PECR 5, the DOE is likely to launch the next round of exploration contracts in 2016.