France Total oil Explorer signs deal to begin Oil Exploration in Sulu Sea

Total of France has entered the oil and gas exploration industry in the Philippines after acquiring a 75-percent interest in a contract area in Sulu Sea.

Total E&P Philippines B.V., a unit of the oil giant, said it acquired the 75-percent stake in offshore block service contract 56 from Mitra Energy of Malaysia. The 75-percent stake was previously owned by ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Philippines B.V. (50 percent) and BHP Billiton International Exploration Pty Ltd (25 percent).

The block covers 4,300 square kilometers, in water depths ranging from 200 meters to 3,000 meters.

ExxonMobil announced last year its decision to withdraw its 50-percent stake in SC 56 after finding "non-commercial quantities of gas" in South Sulu Sea.

ExxonMobil drilled the four wells in 2010 and 2011 and invested $400 million before declaring SC 56, which covered 8,200 square kilometers, including the gas-rich Sandakan Basin, as non-commercial.

Mitra Energy will retain a 25-percent interest in SC 56 after the farm-in agreement was signed.

Total is one of the largest oil and gas companies in the world. Its upstream business encompasses oil and natural gas exploration, development and production, along with coal, gas and power activities.

"With this new acquisition, Total continues to pursue its strategy to further expand its acreage in significant potential plays in new exploration areas, notably in deep offshore Asia Pacific," Marie Guillermou, Total senior vice president for Asia Pacific exploration and production, said.

Energy Assistant Secretary Ramon Oca welcomed Total's entry into the country's oil and gas industry, although he clarified the department had yet to accept a formal application from the company.

"It is a sign of growing investor trust and confidence in doing business in the Philippines plus the attractive fiscal regime we have for petroleum exploration in the Philippines," Oca said.

A new exploration phase actually started on Sept. 1, 2012 and Mitra will initially operate the seismic works including the re-processing of existing data and the 3D acquisition of additional 500 sq. km.

The operatorship will then be transferred to Total E&P for the drilling operations. The transaction is subject to approval of the Energy Department.

Total E&P previously partnered with Nido Petroleum Philippines Pty. Ltd., a subsidiary of Nido Petroleum Ltd. of Australia to look at opportunities offered under the Philippine Energy Contracting Round 4.

The partnership, however, failed to submit a bid in any of the 15 blocks offered under PECR 4.

Manila Standard Today

Continue reading

Canadian Helicopters wins US$40Million Philippines offshore oil and gas contract

Canadian Helicopters Group Inc. says its HNZ subsidiary has won a US$40 million, four-year Philippines offshore oil and gas helicopter support contract from Shell Global Solutions International B.V.

The Montreal-based company said Helicopters NZ Ltd. will provide crew change helicopter services from Manila to Shell's offshore petroleum platforms beginning in September 2013.

A second helicopter will be deployed beginning in the second quarter of 2014 to support oil and gas exploration and development work by Shell in the Philippines.

The initial term of the contract is four years with potential five one-year option periods. Revenues for the initial terms are about US$40 million. The aircraft will be obtained by purchase or lease.

"We are extremely pleased to have been selected by Shell for this major piece of business in Asia" stated president and CEO Don Wall.

"This is not only a win in terms of building on the strong relationship we have built with Shell in New Zealand, but it is also consistent with our strategy to grow the business and expand from our historical areas of strength in Australia and New Zealand deeper into the Asian market."

Canadian Helicopters Group (TSX:CHL.A) is an international provider of helicopter transportation and related support services in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and regions of Southeast Asia. The group also delivers contracted on demand support in Afghanistan and Antarctica.

It operates about 140 helicopters and employs approximately 800 personnel.

Canadian Business 

Continue reading

Meralco’s $1.2 Billion USD Subic Power Facility picked 3 Hyundai’s - Korea lead bidder

The power generation subsidiary of Manila Electric Company (Meralco) has entered negotiation phase with South Korea's Hyundai Group for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract of its $1.2-billion Subic coal-fired power facility to be sited at the Subic Freeport zone in Zambales.

"We had three bidders… we are negotiating now with the lead bidder," Meralco executive vice president Aaron Domingo has disclosed in an exclusive interview.

While he did not name their chosen turnkey contractor, other parties privy to the negotiations have divulged that Meralco PowerGen is now in talks with the consortium of three Hyundai companies, namely Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co. Ltd. (HDEC) ; Hyundai Corporation and Hyundai Engineering Co. Ltd. (HEC)

Redondo Peninsula Energy Inc. will be the corporate vehicle for the 600-megawatt Subic coal-fired project. Meralco PowerGen will be the major stakeholder, in partnership with Aboitiz Group's Therma Power Inc. and Taiwan Cogeneration Corporation.

Domingo noted that they are still on track when it comes to the October target on the issuance of the environmental compliance certificate (ECC) for the second 300-MW unit of the facility. The ECC for the first unit of the same capacity was already issued earlier by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

 "We will be able to satisfy the requirements of the DENR. Actually, we're doing more than the requirements because there are also some requirements of stakeholders, like for us to conduct some studies," he stressed.

Despite the recent legal snag in the facility's implementation, Meralco PowerGen is eyeing that it can still move ahead with construction next year as the Supreme Court had not issued the temporary environmental protection order (TEPO) batted for by the parties which have been trying to stop the project.

"We need to issue the notice to proceed. We're targeting December … we will start mobilizing for construction early next year," Domingo said. Nevertheless, he indicated that the facility's commercial operation may already skid to 2016.

While project developers are already certain on financial closure as well as on the power supply agreement (PSA) for the project, the Meralco executive has emphasized that their focus now is resolving the other major concerns.

"There are only three main issues now, and those are not within our control and we would like to get the cooperation of everyone," he said.

These concerns will cover the ECC, interconnection issues with the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) and finalizing the documentation process for the land lease development agreement (LLDA) with the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority.

For the concern with SBMA being its project host, Domingo has emphasized that "we already have the framework of agreement; we will just need to document it."

On grid interconnection issues, he noted that concerns are "being resolved already. Now, it's just a matter of agreeing on the technical parameters for the interconnection."

Manila Bulletin 

Continue reading