Atok hikes stake in Forum Energy

MANILA, Philippines - Atok-Big Wedge Co., Inc. has secured additional shares in a London-based firm that holds an exploration license in the potentially resource-rich Recto Bank.

“Atok, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Tidemark Holdings Ltd., acquired one million ordinary shares of Forum Energy Plc.,” the firm said in a disclosure.

“This brings Tidemark’s total ownership to 9.646 million ordinary shares of Forum Energy, representing approximately 27.14 percent of Forum Energy’s outstanding capital,” it added.

Atok is majority owned by businessman Roberto V. Ongpin. In October 2011, Atok acquired 100 percent of Hong Kong-based Tidemark.

Forum is a subsidiary of Philex Petroleum Corp. The London-based firm, through its 100-percent interest in Forum Philippine Holdings Ltd. and Forum Ltd., holds a 70-percent equity in Service Contract (SC) 72 that covers an area of 8,800 square kilometers.

Forum Energy also has stakes in the Galoc, Nido, Matinloc and Libertad oil fields, all in Palawan.

In April, Forum Energy revealed that the latest seismic survey on its offshore prospects in the Recto Bank showed the prospective resources could reach as high as 16.612 trillion cubic feet for natural gas and 416 million barrels for oil.

The area is now believed to have 3.4 trillion cubic feet of gas and potentially 440 million barrels of oil - said to be bigger than the existing Malampaya gas field off Palawan.

However, China maintains that the waters around the island have been a traditional Chinese fishery.

The Philippines, on the other hand, insists that the Panatag (Scarborough Shoal) is within its 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zone based on the United Nations Convention on the Laws of the Sea.

Philex Petroleum wants to start the second phase of the SC 72 drilling this month despite a territorial dispute between the Philippines and China.