New offshore Bicol exploration area to be offered to bidders

The Department of Energy (DoE) is sounding out potential bidders for a service contract allowing to explore for potential offshore petroleum resources in the Bicol shelf.

In a notice posted on its website, the DoE said interested parties can challenge for a nominated area spanning 1.5 million hectares within the Bicol Shelf Basin, which lies north of Camarines Norte, encompassing Polillo Island, with an upper bound somewhere north of Casiguran, Aurora.

Challengers may submit documents to participate in the bidding until May 18, with bids to be opened the same day.

The Philippine Conventional Energy Contracting Program allows applicants for a petroleum service contract to nominate areas of interest. Alternatively, the DoE may also offer pre-determined areas not covered by any application.

Edgar Benedict C. Cutiongco, president of the Philippine Petroleum Association, said the Bicol Shelf Basin is considered gas-prone and can serve the country’s long-term need for reliable transition fuels.

“The Bicol Shelf spans about 32,500 square kilometers of offshore acreage, with six historical wildcat wells and an estimated 44 million barrels of oil equivalent in undiscovered resources,” he told BusinessWorld.

Mr. Cutiongco said the basin’s location in uncontested waters and proximity to major demand centers “further strengthens its commercial attractiveness.”

“Every effort to explore our own sedimentary basins reinforces the national goal of responsibly developing hydrocarbon resources from within,” he said.

Last year, the government awarded petroleum and hydrogen service contracts for exploration in the Sulu Sea, Cagayan, Cebu, Northwestern Palawan, Eastern Palawan, and Central Luzon.

The awarded contracts represent a potential investment of around $207 million over seven years of exploration. — Sheldeen Joy Talavera