Philex bags Palawan contracts

MANILA, Philippines - A consortium led by Philex Petroleum Corp. has won the contract to explore oil and gas in Area 4 in Northwest Palawan, the Department of Energy (DOE) said in a notice of award sent to the companies.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Philex Petroleum said they received the notice of award from the DOE under the 4th Philippine Energy Contracting Round (PECR 4), launched in June 2011.

The contract awarded to the consortium of Philex, PNOC-Exploration Corp. and PetroEnergy Resources are among the five service contracts earlier offered by the DOE to local and foreign investors.

Under PECR 4, the government offered more than 10 million hectares for exploration.

Areas 3, 4 and 4 are located in the West Philippine Sea but the energy department said these areas are well within Philippine territory.

Early this week, the DOE has already endorsed to Malacañang the awarding of five service contracts to explore and develop prospective oil and gas blocks to different local and foreign groups.

Aside from the Philex consortium, the other groups that won the contracts are Australian firm Planet Gas for Area 1 in Cagayan; Pitkin Petroleum and Philodrill Corp. for Area 5 in Northwest Palawan; Australian firm Otto Energy’s NorAsian Energy Philippines Inc. for Area 7 in Mindoro Cuyo and Australian firm Loyz Oil for Area 14 in East Palawan.

Energy Undersecretary Ramon Allan Oca has said investments for these service contracts vary depending on their respective petroleum seismic studies.

The cost may start from at least $5 million to $100 million per well.