MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Energy (DOE) will commence the Philippine Conventional Energy Contracting Program (PCECP) in November.
The agency said this is part of efforts to aggressively pursue initiatives that will ensure the provision of affordable, reliable, modern, and sustainable energy and meet the growing energy demand of the country.
“For an energy-secure future, the DOE is committed to pursue energy independence and sustainability through effective and reasonable development of all indigenous energy resources in the Philippines,” DOE Secretary Alfonso Cusi said.
Cusi added that the increase in global exploration and development activities is a measure to cushion the transport and power sectors against the volatility of world market oil prices.
The PCECP is a new and transparent petroleum service contract awarding mechanism that allows the government to develop and utilize indigenous petroleum resources under a service contract with qualified local and international exploration companies.
Under the PCECP, awarding of service contracts are conducted either through the competitive selection process or via nomination.
To promote the PCECP, the agency has set local road shows in Palawan on Sept. 20, Davao on Sept. 27 and Zamboanga in October.
So far, the DOE has kicked off an international road show on Aug. 31 in Singapore where the DOE delegation, led by assistant secretary Caron Aicitel Lascano, held one-on-one meetings with 18 petroleum exploration companies.
Lascano said there is considerably good investor interest in the Philippines as indicated by the meeting turnout and the expression of interest from the companies to nominate their prospective areas of interest.
Compared to the previous Philippine Energy Contracting Round (PECR), the PCECP would allow prospective contractors to nominate areas other than the 14 pre-determined areas (PDAs).
The PDAs include one area in the Cagayan Basin, three in Eastern Palawan, three in Sulu, two in Agusan-Davao, one in Cotabato, and four in Western Luzon.
Currently, there are 22 active petroleum service contracts in the Philippines. Some of the DOE’s operator-partners include Shell Philippines Exploration, Total E&P, PNOC-EC, Nido Petroleum, Philodrill, PXP Energy and Galoc Production Co.
The Philippines is also home to the Malampaya deep water gas-to-power project, the largest and most successful natural gas industrial project in the country’s history.