Israeli firm to seal petroleum project in Duterte state visit

Israeli firm Ratio Oil Exploration Ltd. is targeted to seal its investment entry into the Philippine upstream petroleum industry during President Rodrigo Duterte’s visit to Israel this September.

According to a highly placed source, it is being sorted out that the signing of the firm’s petroleum service contract (PSC) be carried out in the presence of Duterte and Israeli President Reuven Rivlin.

The award of Ratio Oil’s service contract had been delayed for roughly three years already – following its win in a bidding for Area 4 of the blocks offered under the Philippine Energy Contracting Round-5 (PECR-5) back in 2015.

The petroleum service area straddles Northwest Palawan – an acreage of 416,000 hectares with potential for 1.2 million barrels of oil; and 2.062 billion cubic feet of gas.

In a separate interview, Energy Undersecretary Donato D. Marcos disclosed that the Israeli firm had indeed sent a correspondence to the Department of Energy (DOE) and Malacañang indicating its readiness to finally sign the petroleum service contract.

He noted that in the letter, Ratio Oil also signified willingness “to abide by the taxation scheme or policy – whatever comes out in the Malampaya arbitration case,” which is currently pending at an international arbitral tribunal.

The energy official stressed this is one of the