Nine companies, including six international and three local exploration firms, submitted applications for petroleum service contracts under the first Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) Conventional Energy Bid Round and the 2024 Philippine Bid Round.
The Department of Energy (DOE) said the 2024 Philippine Bid Round saw the highest number of valid applications for pre-determined areas, compared to the Philippine Energy Contracting Round (PECR) 5 in 2015 and the Philippine Conventional Energy Contracting Program’s (PCECP) 2018-2019 offering.
It said six of eight pre-determined areas received valid applications, a significant increase that reflects heightened interest from the industry.
The next phase will determine whether these applications will translate into petroleum service contracts.
“We are very pleased that well-known international players in hydrogen and petroleum exploration and production have shown interest and participated in this year’s bid round,” said DOE Undersecretary Alessandro Sales.
Sales noted the lack of exploration activity in the country over the past 15 years. “This activity marks the beginning of a transformative journey that may span several years. If we do not embark on this activity now, it will never come to fruition,” he said.
The DOE and the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources and Energy (MENRE) of the BARMM announced during the opening of application documents on Aug. 27, 2024 at the Dusit Thani Hotel Manila that three applications were received under the 1st BARMM Conventional Energy Bid Round.
The applications include one for PDA-BP-1 (Cotabato Basin), one for PDA-BP-2 (Sulu Sea Basin) and one for PDA-BP-3 (Sulu Sea Basin).
The DOE said all applications were deemed qualified for further substantive evaluation following an initial completeness check.
Sales said that under the 2024 Philippine Bid Round, the DOE received five applications for service contracts for native hydrogen exploration in Central Luzon: three for PDA-PH-1 and two for PDA-PH-2.
These applications also passed the completeness check and are eligible for further substantive evaluation.
The agency said an application for PDA- PD-2 (Alegria Field) was disqualified due to incomplete documentation.
The DOE said the comprehensive legal, technical and financial evaluation of all qualified applications would be completed in the fourth quarter of 2024.
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