PNOC-EC finalizes deal with foreign exploration firm

PNOC-Exploration Corp. (EC) is finalizing a farm-in deal with a foreign exploration firm, it was learned yesterday.

"The negotiation with a foreign exploration company is already in its final stage. It will put in capital in our offshore Mindoro projects, Cherry and Tablas," EC president Rufino Bomasang said, in an interview.

According to Bomasang, the deal will be closed within this month. "We will likely finish the talks anytime soon," he said.

The EC chief described the investor as "very new" in the Philippine exploration business, but who has been engaged in exploration activities all over the world.

Bomasang said he is not yet ready to disclose the identity of the firm until the contract is signed.

EC, a publicly-listed oil and gas exploration arm of state-run Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC), has been scouting for strategic partners for its exploration contract in offshore Mindoro.

The exploration firm comple-ted last August 2002 the seismic survey for some 960 kilometers in the said exploration area.

Since the start of the year, EC has been intensifying its operation in oil, gas and coal exploration in preparation for the company’s planned shares offering slated within the year.

The exploration of Cherry and Tablas will need at least $5 to $10 million capital for every well.

Early this year, EC urged the Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas), an oil conglomerate of Malaysia, to renew its interest in seven oil and gas prospects in Cotabato. Last year, EC had plans of pursuing a P220-million third exploratory well in the Cotabato basin in Mindanao.

The third well, Gansing I, is located in the Cotabato basin. The drilling project is covered by the Geophysical Survey and Explora-tion Contract (GSEC) No. 73.

Since 1999, EC had already drilled two onshore wells in the area namely Sultan-sa-Barongis (SSB) 1 and SSB-2. Based on EC records, an open-hole test conducted at SSB-1 yielded a stabilized natural gas flow rate of 186,000 standard cubic feet per day (SCFPD). SSB-2, on the other hand, also confirmed the presence of natural gas with a measured flow rate of about 270,000 SCFPD. – Donnabelle Gatdula