PNOC EC plans to invest P20B in new prospects

PNOC Exploration Corp. the oil exploration and coal arm of state run Philippine National Oil Co. is investing a hefty P20 billion between now and 2016 for the “further exploration, exploitation, development and marketing of oil, gas and coal deposits in the Philippines.”

The company’s board of directors had approved this “long range” plan, which also includes the construction of power plants to further boost the country’s electricity supply, said PNOC EC chairman and CEO Gemiliano C. Lopez Jr.

PNOC EC earlier said it had begun looking for potential joint venture partners for the construction of two coal-fired power plants, which will be put up in Isabela and Zamboanga Sibugay, where its coal mines are located.

PNOC EC is also developing three new prospective, high-grade coal mines within Zamboanga Sibugay under Coal Operating Contract No.41. These mines could increase the company’s coal production by some 800,000 metric tons annually. At present, production within COC 41 is around 150,000 MT a year.

The company also submitted several bids to acquire contracts to explore and develop some of the prospective coal mines in the country, under the Philippine Energy Contracting Round 4 for coal.

For its upstream oil business, PNOC EC is looking to drill an exploration well within Service Contract 63 off Palawan, where two big prospects had been identified: the Aboabo discovery and the Kalapato site, which were estimated to hold 222 million barrels and 239 million barrels of oil, respectively.

PNOC EC also recently took over the compressed natural gas (CNG) refilling facility of Shell, as the government moves to boost the use of this alternative fuel for transport via the Natural Gas for Vehicle Program for Public Transport (NGVPPT) of the Department of Energy.

PNOC EC has appropriated P400 million for the project designed to provide compressed natural gas fuel to 1,000 passenger buses to bring down the cost of transportation.

Last year, PNOC EC posted a 22-percent growth in its net income to P3.01 billion from P2.48 billion the previous year. Consequently, the earnings per share rose to P1.51 from P1.23 in 2010.

It also reported a 14-percent hike in gross revenues to P10.4 billion in 2011, from P8.82 billion the year before.