DOE sets international roadshow

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Energy (DOE) will hold a series of international roadshows for the upcoming Philippine Energy Contracting Round (PECR) 4 in the US and Europe, its top energy official said.

Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras said they will undertake the roadshows to encourage more investors to participate in the bidding process for the oil and gas exploration areas in the country.

He said he is optimistic the PECR will generate a lot of positive response from the investor community.

“It looks very exciting. Even in the international scene, there’s so much interest in the Philippines’ oil exploration areas. All the large exploration companies, some of which have yet to come here, are now coming. I’m going to Texas and London for roadshows by July or August,” he said.

He said the international roadshows would allow prospective investors to know more about the bidding procedures.

“In the spirit of transparency, we don’t want to be accused of being restrictive in the way we share the information. We will do the roadshows to answer investors’ concerns,” he added.

Aside from the US and Europe, Almendras said the DOE would also investment roadshows in Singapore and Australia.

According to the energy chief, they intend to launch the PECR 4 by end-June this year and proceed with the international roadshows.

“We will launch to inform potential investors of the sites to be bid out and at the same time address their concerns. We’re finalizing the schedule. By the end of the third quarter or early fourth, we should be able to award service contracts (SCs),” he said.

He said they have been getting a lot of interest in almost all areas that would be up for bidding. “They’re actually looking at all 15 areas and are also interested to revive old areas that have been abandoned.”

He said they also would want to ensure that all investors would deliver on their commitments.

“The bidders need to prove their competency, we would like to reiterate that PECR is not about money, but also competency and quality, work program – our job is to accelerate the development. A bidder may give a very high proposal but would take it 20 years to develop, so I’d rather give it to somebody who could do it in three years, as we need the energy as soon as possible,” he said.

The DOE is set to bid out 15 new oil and gas exploration areas, mostly near South China Sea and Sulu Sea, by June 30 under the PECR 4.

Among these areas are: Area 1 (544,000 hectares) in Cagayan; Area 2 (676,000) in Central Luzon; Area 3 (600,000) in Northwest Palawan; Area 4 (616,000) Northwest Palawan; Area 5 (424,000) Northwest Palawan; Area 6 (840,000) in Mindoro Cuyo; Area 7 (844,000) in Mindoro Cuyo; Area 8 (840,000) in East Palawan; Area 9 (840,000) in East Palawan; Area 10 (640,000) in East Palawan; Area 11 (600,000) in Cotabato; Area 12 (456,000) in Cotabato; Area 13 (648,000) in East Palawan; Area 14 (983,900) in East Palawan and Area 15 (482,000) in Sulu Sea.

The government has been very aggressive in discovering new oil reserves in the Philippine waters.