DOE taps experts for industry review

BY LENIE LECTURA – SEPTEMBER 1, 2022
from Business Mirror

The Department of Energy (DOE) has tapped experts from the energy sector to assist the agency in reviewing pending issues in the oil and gas industry.

Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla on Wednesday announced the designation of special technical and financial review committees and consultants. He said these advisers are highly regarded in their fields of expertise.

“In availing of the expertise of these individuals, we want to assure the public that the DOE will exercise the utmost care and diligence, in carrying out its mandate involving the country’s upstream oil and gas sector in general, including the country’s biggest gas-to-power initiative to date—the Malampaya-Camago project,” Lotilla said.

He said the advisers are also expected to assist the DOE in ensuring that its decisions on matters relating to the Malampaya service contract consider all the relevant factors and are founded on sound technical analyses.

The technical review committee will be chaired by Rufino B. Bomasang. Its members include Francisco G. Delfin Jr. and Froilan A. Tampinco, while Edgar Benedict C. Cutiongco will serve as a consultant.

Bomasang was the former President and CEO of the PNOC-Exploration Corp. (PNOC-EC). He joined the government in 1976 and served under five successive Presidents of the Republic. Delfin Jr. served as DOE Undersecretary while Tampinco served as Napocor President and PSALM Vice-President.

Cutiongco has more than three decades of experience in oil and gas exploration and production operations, garnered both at the PNOC-EC and PEARL Oil, Mubadala Petroleum, and InterOil Corp. in Singapore. He is the current president of the Philippine Petroleum Association of the Upstream Industry and a Senior Lecturer at the University of the Philippines National Institute of Geological Sciences.

The financial review committee will be chaired by Roberto G. Manabat. Its members include J. Carlitos G. Cruz and Gabriel R. Singson Jr. Atty. Ephyro Luis B. Amatong will serve as consultant.

Manabat is the founding and former Chairman and CEO of KPMG R.G. Manabat & Co., a member firm of KPMG International. He was also the former senior partner of SGV & Co. and served as an independent director of several private companies.

Cruz was the former chairman and managing partner of SGV & Co and is currently a Trustee of the Makati Business Club while Singson was a former undersecretary of the Department of Finance (DOF).

Amatong, meanwhile, served as a Commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission and DOF assistant secretary.

Atty. Luis Ma. G. Uranza will serve as legal consultant. Uranza is an expert in corporate law and financial rehabilitation, criminal, civil, and commercial law. He served as a director of PNOC-EC.