PNOC-EC seeks partners for SC 37

PNOC Exploration Corp., the upstream oil and coal arm of state-run Philippine National Oil Co., is seeking joint-venture partners that will hold a majority stake in Service Contract 37 and pursue its exploration program within the Cagayan basin.

In a notice Monday, PNOC-EC said prospective partners could acquire a minimum participating interest of 51 percent to a maximum share of 70 percent in SC 37. PNOC-EC currently holds a 100-percent stake in the service contract.

Interested parties can submit letters of interest by October 29, upon the execution of a confidentiality agreement and payment of a nonrefundable registration and data-viewing fee of $1,000 (about P42,000).

PNOC-EC will hold a pre-bidding conference on October 31 at 10 a.m. to clarify certain issues and answer queries from prospective bidders. The deadline for the submission of bids is Dec. 17, 2012.

PNOC-EC has already started pre-drilling work within the SC 37 area, which will allow the company to proceed with the drilling of an exploration well between the last quarter of this year and early 2013.

Documents from PNOC-EC showed it would drill within the Mangosteen prospect in Barangay (village) Balintocatoc, Santiago City, in Isabela province. A total of P358 million has been earmarked for the well planning, exploration drilling and post-well evaluation in SC 37.

PNOC-EC said it had integrated last year the results of the land gravity and magnetic survey conducted in 2010 with the earlier acquired geophysical and geochemical data on the area. This led to the identification and delineation of the Mangosteen prospect as the drilling target, out of the several leads seen within the service contract.

To address the risks associated with the reservoir and the source of hydrocarbons, the additional fieldwork was also conducted, it added.

It was only in January this year that the board of PNOC-EC gave its approval to proceed with the exploration well drilling.

PNOC-EC operates SC 37, which covers 360 sq km in the Cagayan Basin, which spans across Isabela and Quirino provinces.