Frontier Oil to drill ₱5 Billion Palawan Calauit Field and Cagayan wells in Q1 2014

The initial public offering (IPO) of Frontier Oil Corp. will transform the company from an explorer into a producer as it aims to drill two offshore wells in the Calauit Field by end of first quarter next year, a company executive said.

"What we're trying to do with this IPO is transforming the company from an explorer into a producer," president Kristoffer Fellowes told reporters in an investors' briefing late Monday.

"If we're successful, we'll be producing in the first half of 2014 by way of extended well test initiative and that is in Calauit Field," he said.

Discovered in 1991 by Petrocorp Exploration Philippines Ltd., Calauit Field is part of service contract (SC) 52 in offshore northwest Palawan and is Frontier Oil's most mature projects.

"We're still firming up specific dates [for the drilling] but it will be towards the end of first quarter 2014," Fellowes said.

"As soon as we finish drilling, we'll have a revenue stream. It's been in production before so we have assessments that it is bankable, with 5,000 barrels per day for 2.5 years of revenue stream based on independent assessment," he added.

According to Gaffney Kline & Associates, Calauit Field is estimated to have a net present value of ₱3.8 billion to ₱5.91 billion.

Fellowes said two horizontal wells will be drilled separately.

"We will have simultaneous operations... with the first well... It will be drilled for 30 days and will proceed to production... Then the second well will be drilled," he said.

On Oct. 25, the Philippine Stock Exchange approved the ₱2.2 billion IPO of Frontier Oil covering 883.626 million primary common shares at P2.50 apiece.

The offer period is set for Nov. 25 to Nov. 29, with a listing date on Dec. 9., according to a PSE memorandum.

Of the IPO proceeds, ₱276.88 million will be used for SC 50. Frontier Oil will also use ₱1.5 billion to drill in SC 52 in the onshore Cagayan Basin by December.

Frontier Oil holds interests and rights to interests in four of the 26 active exploration service contracts

Currently in place with the Department of Energy, with SC 50 and 52 as the two most mature or production-ready projects, according to the company. - GMA News

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China Firm chosen as preferred bidder for ₱1.59 billion offer to take ownership of AGUS VI Hydro Power plant in Mindanao

Chinese firm submits best bid for Agus power plant rehab in Iligan City, Mindanao

China's Guangxi Hydroelectric Construction Bureau and local joint venture (JV) partner ITP Construction Inc. submitted the best offer for the contract to rehabilitate and raise the power output of the Agus VI hydroelectric power plant, said Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management (PSALM) Corp.

PSALM, a state-owned firm tasked to manage and privatize the remaining power assets of  National Power Corp., said in a statement that Guangxi Hydroelectric submitted the lowest offer of ₱1.59 billion during the Oct. 25 bidding for the upgrading of Units 1 and 2 of the Agus VI hydroelectric power plant.

The bid, PSALM said, could translate to potential savings of more than ₱1 billion for the government.

The other bid (₱1.68 billion) was from a group composed of HydroChina ZhongNan, Harbin Electric Machinery Co. Ltd. and BSP & Co. Inc.

PSALM said both bids were within the approved ₱2.6-billion budget for the contract.

A third potential bidder did not qualify, PSALM said.

PSALM bids and awards committee chair Manuel Marcos M. Villalon II said the winning bid was still subject to detailed evaluation and post-qualification to determine whether it was compliant with and responsive to the bidding requirements and conditions.

Agus 6 is part of the Agus-Pulangi hydroelectric power complex, which generates more than half of the power supplied to Mindanao. The government wants Units 1 and 2 to be uprated to 34.5 MW each (from 25MW) and to be fit for power generation for another 30 years.

"Specifically, the project will include the investigation, design, engineering, manufacturing, installation, testing and commissioning of the new hydropower turbines and blades of the two Agus VI power units. It also calls for the replacement of electrical equipment, materials and devices necessary for the safe and reliable operation of the power facilities. Upon the award, the project is expected to be completed within 900 calendar days," PSALM said. – Inquirer 

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Malacañang Palace to go after the Anonymous Antipork hackers

Malacañang on Monday vowed to go after the group of antipork hackers, who defaced the website of the Office of the Ombudsman and 37 other government offices.

"There are existing laws covering that and proper action will be taken," Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma said in a press conference.

Saying there were "sufficient avenues for free expression," Coloma said there was "no need to resort to illegal acts such as the hacking of government websites."

"There is sufficient democratic space for any individual or group. That's why there's no need to commit illegal acts like the one that they did," he added.

Calling itself Anonymous Philippines, the group hacked into the government websites to encourage the public to join Tuesday's protest action against the pork barrel at the House of Representatives.

A major target was the website of the Office of the Ombudsman, which is looking into the plunder allegation against Senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Bong Revilla Jr. and Jinggoy Estrada in connection with the P10-billion pork barrel scam.

Also charged with plunder are Janet Lim-Napoles, the alleged mastermind of the scam, and 34 others.

Willing to listen

Senators downplayed the hacker group's call for antipork protests in Congress but said they were willing to listen.

Senate President Franklin Drilon and Sen. Ralph Recto said that any Filipino, including Anonymous Philippines, was well within his right to stage protests outside Congress.

"Protest is part of our democratic space. We're used to that. They can always express their opinion and we will listen," Drilon said on the phone from Hong Kong on Sunday night.

"Whether or not it is justified is beside the point. We have democratic space, and they can express their views. We will listen," he added.

Recto said "democratic expression should never be feared."

Hooray

Sen. Sergio Osmeña III said the hackers had a right to be fed up with all the looting. "Hooray for them," he said.

While it apologized for the inconvenience, Anonymous Philippines said this was the only way to convey the message to Filipinos who are "tired of this government and the politicians who only think about themselves."

"To the corrupt—fear us," it said.

Members of the Senate and House have been skewered for months over the large-scale misuse of their pork barrel exposed by the Inquirer and the Commission on Audit.

On top of this, they've had to fend off criticism that they received additional pork barrel allocations from Malacañang after the Senate convicted Chief Justice Renato Corona for dishonesty in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth in May 2012.

Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV downplayed the impact of Anonymous Philippines' "call of action."

"I believe Filipinos will not follow anonymous virtual movements," he said in a text message on Sunday.

No one to listen

If the protests push through on Tuesday, most, if not all, of the lawmakers wouldn't be there to listen to them. Congress is on Halloween break and will resume sessions on Nov. 18.

But Trillanes said Filipinos should "be alarmed about their capability to hack government websites as this could compromise state operations and data storage."

As they grappled with the backlash against the pork barrel scandal, some senators led by Drilon, Francis Escudero and Vicente Sotto III have pushed for the total scrapping of their Priority Development Assistance Fund from the 2014 national budget.

And ahead of the hearing on the plunder complaint in the Ombudsman, the Senate blue ribbon committee is resuming its inquiry into the scam on Thursday to hear the testimony of Napoles and the whistle-blowers. - Inquirer

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