DOE offers another petroleum block in Cotabato basin
By Myrna M. Velasco – September 23, 2020, 5:00 AM
from Manila Bulletin
The Department of Energy (DOE) is offering another petroleum block to interested investors, this time the prospect straddles offshore Cotabato basin in Mindanao.
The block, according to the department, was nominated by an investor-group and it will be placed on a 60-day competitive challenge before the tendering process for that acreage can be concluded.
Interested investors are scheduled to submit their respective offers on November 3 this year, as prescribed in the bid notice issued by the DOE.
Under the Philippine Conventional Energy Contracting Program (PCECP), prospective investors can nominate a petroleum block of their preference; and then the DOE will subject it to a 60-day challenge before that particular area could be awarded to a company that will explore and potentially develop it.
For the offered petroleum block in Cotabato basin which was classified as Area No. 9, the DOE emphasized that the challengers must “submit their complete application documents at the DOE records division, and pay the corresponding application fee of P1.0 million at the DOE treasury.”
It further apprised interested parties that the opening of bids will be held at the DOE audio-visual room on November 3, at 1:30pm.
Petroleum blocks in the Cotabato basin are deemed to have high potential for gas discovery, but these remained underexplored for so many years because of perceived geopolitical risks in that area.
Nevertheless, in the recent contracting round undertaken by the DOE, there have been several investors from Mindanao showing interest in the blocks that are up for nomination.
Investments in the upstream petroleum sector are among those being aggressively pushed by the DOE, as the country is in dire search for a new gas production field that could replace Malamapaya.
To advance oil and gas exploration activities in the country, the DOE is aware of the fact that it will have to corner investors with deep pockets, especially if there is a block with reserves viable for commercial development.
The energy department previously indicated that one dilemma of the Philippines is the very low prospectivity of the blocks being offered, with just 10 to 20-percent chance for discovery, and that scale is seen way lower than the rate of discovery in the service contracts being tendered by ASEAN neighbors; and that is compounded by diplomatic tension in the West Philippine Sea. And given the low global oil prices, companies are also weighing options if it is practical for them to flow in capital in new exploration activities at this time.
