Gov’t invites global petro giants to invest in Phl

ISTANBUL, Turkey – The Aquino administration, through the Department of Energy (DOE) is inviting international petroleum giants to invest in the country’s petroleum blocks as it participates in this year’s American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) International Conference Exhibition here at the city’s Istanbul Congress Center.

A team from the Department of Energy led by Undersecretary Zenaida Monsada arrived here Thursday after successfully concluding the second leg of its international roadshow in Perth, Australia last week to promote the so-called Philippine Energy Contracting Round 5 (PECR 5).

In an interview with The STAR, Monsada expressed hope that the country’s participation at the RIU Good Oil Conference in Perth and at the AAPG conference here would translate to actual bids.

“We look forward that the interest will convert into bids, that they will invest, explore and succeed in the Philippines,” she said.

Monsada said the Energy department also partnered with Zebra Data, a third party service provider to provide 2D, 3D and seismic data for all the areas which would be useful for prospective investors.

May Militante, roadshow spokesperson, said the Philippine booth at the Australia exhibition attracted at least 200 potential investors.

Demujin Antiporda, supervising science research specialist at the Energy department’s Energy Resources Development Bureau, said the events in both Australia and Turkey also include a technical presentation to showcase the investment areas offered by the Philippines.

The PECR, a regular activity held by the Department of Energy, is a transparent and competitive system for awarding system 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 located mostly 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.

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

The AAPG conference, which would end on Sept. 17 is the largest conference and exhibition to be held in Turkey this year. Prospective investors are composed of petroleum players, executives and financial managers from North America and Europe.

“For this year’s activity, unique to ICE 2014 is the incorporation of AAPG’s Regional Prospect and Property Expo (APPEX), offering its own exploration themed presentations and exhibits.

“APPEX is the key forum for networking and international deal development, carefully designed for us to meet, discuss and negotiate deals with global decision makers which could highlight our promising investment opportunities in oil and gas exploration and production under the PECR5,” the DOE said in a briefer on the event.

The DOE booth at the exhibition focuses on the PECR5 blocks to be offered and data packages, available online which prospective PECR participants may avail of to evaluate the blocks offered.