Oil Deal with Israel to Boost PH’s Energy Resources Dev’t: Palace

The Philippines’ new oil exploration deal with Israel’s Ratio Petroleum Ltd. would boost the country’s energy resources development, Malacañang said on Thursday.

“We’ve been dependent on oil producing countries for our oil. So we need to boost the exploration and development of our own energy resources,” Presidential Spokesperson and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo in a Palace press briefing.

Last Wednesday, Panelo said President Rodrigo Duterte signed in behalf of the Philippines the Petroleum Service Contract (PSC) for Area 4 (East Palawan Basin) under the Fifth Philippine Energy Contracting Round (PECR5) in Malacañang.

He said Ratio Petroleum Ltd. President and CEO Itay Raphael Tabibzada signed for his company while Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Alfonso Cusi witnessed the ceremonial signing of the contract.

According to the DOE, the awarded PSC is part of PECR5, which was launched in May 2014. The PECR was established as a transparent and competitive system of awarding service or operating contracts for prospective petroleum or coal areas within the country.

Under the contract, Ratio Petroleum will explore Area 4, a 416,000-hectare area in East Palawan, for potential oil and gas resources with a projected minimum total expenditure of USD34.35 million for studies, data gathering and drilling activities over the initial seven-year contract duration.

Panelo said the deal was part of the investments that Duterte brought home when he visited Israel last month.

“So hopefully, magkakaroon na tayo ng oil (we will have our own oil) and it will definitely help our country,” Panelo said.

“If you remember the President made statement that the country needs energy security and sustainability as soon as possible time,” he added.

The PSC with the Israel firm is the first under the Duterte administration, according to the DOE.

In a statement, Cusi said the oil exploration deal bodes well for Philippine-Israel economic relations, as well as the country’s upstream petroleum industry.

The last service contract awarded was with PXP Energy Corporation in 2013.

Ratio Petroleum was established in 1992 and now has a number of large-scale operations at the Levant Basin in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of Israel, as well as off-shore operations in the Republic of Malta and the Co-operative Republic of Guyana. (PNA)