More foreign firms eye gas, oil sector

MANILA, Philippines — More foreign firms are keen on investing in the country’s oil and gas exploration sector, according to the Department of Energy (DOE).

Foreign firms have expressed interest in pre-determined areas (PDAs) offered under Philippine Conventional Energy Contracting Program (PCECP), DOE Undersecretary Donato Marcos said.

“For the PDAs, there are nine nominations which are mostly foreign companies, while there are 10 parties who have nominated new areas for oil and gas exploration activities,” he said.

The PCECP offers 14 pre-determined areas and the option for investors to propose their own exploration area, making oil and gas exploration a dynamic investment prospect for players in the energy sector. 

Among the foreign companies with serious interest in the Philippine oil and gas sector is Israeli firm Ratio Petroleum Ltd., DOE Secretary Alfonso Cusi said.

“Ratio Petroleum has been in town since (last) Monday and they are expressing interest in nominating many areas,” he said.

Ratio Petroleum is the operator of Service Contract (SC) 76, the first contract signed by President Duterte in October last year. It holds 100 percent of the rights in the block.

Their interest is focused on expanding its existing contract and is also looking at another prospect with government.

“One of their concern is the expansion of SC 76 to get maximum area of one million and 500 hectares,” Marcos said.

SC 76 covers approximately 4,160 square kilometers at water depths ranging between 900 and 1,700 meters.

“The other one is farming in with PNOC-EC (PNOC Exploration Corp.) in SC 37. It’s on-shore. It is also looking at joint nomination with PNOC-EC (under PCECP),” Marcos said.

SC 37 was awarded to PNOC EC in July 1990, covering an area of 360 km2, originally from 2,200 km2.

Another foreign firm looking at projects in the Philippines with Ratio is Delek Group, also an Israel-based firm focused on the gas sector, Cusi said.

“They have two interests, one is to drill, in case Ratio will drill in the country. The other one is to nominate also,” Marcos said.

The DOE undersecretary also said Rexxon Group has also signified interest in SC 59 offshore Palawan, also of PNOC-EC.

SC 59 was awarded to PNOC EC in January 2006 which covers an area of 14,760 km2 in offshore Southwest Palawan and is located north of the deep-water gas discoveries in offshore Malaysia.

Meanwhile, ExxonMobil has participated one of the PDAs under PCECP, Marcos said.

The DOE has been pushing for oil and gas exploration and development in the country and launched the PCECP in November last year as part of an intensified thrust to develop the petroleum exploration industry for global competitiveness.

Presently, there are only 23 active Petroleum Service Contracts (PSC) in the country, with the Malampaya Deep Water Gas-to-Power Project as the most successful PSC stemming from the previous Philippine Energy Contracting Round. 

The contract for the Malampaya gas field in northwest Palawan will expire in 2024 but this can be applied for extension with the DOE.