The farm-in agreement makes MEL PNOC-EC’s second partner in the said acreage with a 21-percent stake.
The first farm-in agreement was concluded last January between PNOC-EC and China National Offshore Oil Co. (CNOOC), with the latter taking a 51-percent participating interest.
A technical committee meeting will be held this month among the partners to plan for the exploration work program and budget for SC 57.
SC 57 has been awarded to PNOC-EC by the Department of Energy last Sept. 15, 2005 to conduct petroleum exploration and development in the Calamian area.
The exploration area lies north of the country’s oil fields such as the Malampaya, Nido, Cadlao and Matinloc, and is located within the northwest Palawan block where most of the country’s oil production comes from.
PNOC-EC also has stake in the $4.5-billion Malampaya deep water to gas power project in northwest Palawan with Shell Philippine Exploration B.V. and Chevron Texaco as partners.
The Malampaya natural gas could yield three trillion cubic feet of gas that could be used to fuel up to 3,000 megawatts of electricity for 20 years, equivalent to more than half of the electricity requirements of Luzon even during peak hours. It also has recoverable reserves of 85 million barrels of condensate.
At present, it fuels three power stations with a combined capacity of 2,700 megawatts.
In 2003, PNOC-EC, an oil and gas exploration subsidiary of Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC), spearheaded the discussions with CNOOC and other oil exploration firms in the region such as Pertamina of Indonesia, and Petronas of Malaysia. These three oil firms are also government-run like PNOC-EC.