THE Department of Energy (DOE) is set to award coal contracts to the winning bidders of this year’s Philippine Energy Contracting Round 5 (PECR 5).
“As far as the coal [contracts are] concerned, I think I’m about to sign the winning bidders,” Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho L. Petilla said.
PECR aims to showcase the exploration of potential coal and petroleum areas in the country.
The Department of Energy (DOE) was earlier evaluating the technical and financial aspects of the eight bidders.
According to the DOE, the PECR 5 offered 11 blocks covering a total area of 47,840 square kilometers (sq m).
The blocks are mainly in frontier regions and cover an average size of 4,350 sq km per block, with the largest covering 5,760 sq km in the East Palawan region.
The PECR5 also offers 11 areas for petroleum exploration, mostly in Luzon. These include Area 1 in Southeast Luzon; areas 2 and 3 in Masbate-Iloilo; areas 4 and 5 in Northeast Palawan; Area 6 in Southeast Palawan; 7 in West Palawan; areas 8 to 11 in West Luzon.
“For petroleum, the deadline was supposedly on March 31,2015. Bur we’re looking at extending it by about two months. This is to give everybody a chance to come up with own data packs,” Petilla said.
To date, there are already six companies that secured bid documents, Petilla added. “They’re very upbeat about the Philippines, not only because we have abundant resources, but also because the fiscal policies here are advantageous.”
The deadline for the submission of petroleum-contract applications is end-May of next year.
Petilla earlier said ExxonMobil Corp. and the Turkish Petroleum International Co. (TPIC) could be interested to explore and possibly invest in the country’s rich-petroleum areas.
The DOE has recently concluded two PECR roadshows in Australia and Turkey.
The PECR 5 delegation, headed by DOE Officer in Charge Undersecretary Zenaida Monsada joined the more than 200 exhibitors in the conference and exhibitions hosted by the Resource Information Unit (RIU) Good Oil Conference in Perth, Australia and the AAPG International Conference and Exhibition in Istanbul, Turkey.
“This is an opportunity for the country to present to the international community its potentials in energy development and exploration. Hopefully, through exhibitions, we can find prospective developers that can be our partner in achieving energy security in the nation and essentially convert interests to bids,” Monsada said.
The RIU Good Oil Conference brought interests among companies through the country’s fiscal policies that create traction and interest among international investors.
During the exhibitions, the delegation promoted this licensure round’s 11 petroleum blocks on offer with the largest located east of Palawan Island and covers 576,000 hectares.
Lenie Lectura