PNOC to bid out Malampaya oil rim
Sunday, October 29, 2006
By MYRNA M. VELASCO
Upon promulgation of the bidding rules that will comply with the mandate of Executive Order 556, the Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC) will be issuing new round of tender notice to prospective investors for the proposed Camago-Malampaya Oil Leg (CMOL) project.
The government, with the Department of Energy (DoE) taking the lead, shall be formulating the bidding rules and procedures that will govern the bidding process in securing a private sector partner for PNOC to develop the oil rim project.
The conduct of competitive bidding has been Malacañang’s way of invoking transparency in the award of contract for CMOL project; of which operatorship was given to PNOC on the strength of Executive Order 473.
PNOC initially negotiated with Mitra Energy for a farm-out deal as based on industry practice; but this never reached the stage where award of contract was made.
However, taking into account that PNOC is a government entity, a mandate was set forth under EO 556 to align selection of a partner for CMOL through a competitive bidding process.
Asked during a recent television interview at ANC if PNOC would be able to attract new round of investors when tender notice for bidding would be sent out, company president Eduardo V. Mañalac sounded off that there remains a great chance.
"I think if we can formulate a clear and transparent bidding rules and procedures and we can demonstrate that this government, together with PNOC and DoE, is truly looking for a legitimate partner in the industry, then I would think we can convince outside foreign investors to come in," he enthused.
He added that by coming up with a fair and transparent bidding rules and procedures, this could be a way of manifesting that there is truly an effort to properly implement the government system.
Manalac acknowledged though that there are key issues needing to be straightened out as the process moves along, primarily centered on the technical and commercial issues relating to the development of oil reservoir beneath the gas field.
It has already been pointed out that the sooner the oil reserve can be extracted out from the field, the better the outcome will be for the country because the volume would still not dwindle substantially.
The project development cost rolled by the original targeted investor was at $ 450 million; with oil yield commencing in 2007 for a total volume reaching 40 million barrels.
The concerns of the other consortium-members in the Malampaya gas field — Shell Philippines Exploration BV and Chevron Malampaya LLC; would be another critical issue to be settled once a partner is chosen; because any impediment in the gas flow or production process would badly affect the country’s electricity supply. (MMV)
posted by philpower @ 7:22 PM,
