Malaysian firm may lose Sulu petrol contract
MALAYSIAN conglomerate Ranhill Berhad may lose its petroleum exploration contract in the Sulu Sea with the Department of Energy (DOE) for failing to follow strict work timelines.
DOE Undersecretary Ramon Allan V. Oca said in a briefing that other service contracts had been cancelled for similar non-compliance with work commitments.
“Another is up for cancellation, a foreign contractor in the Sulu Sea,” Oca said, and later identified the company as Ranhill.
While government is streamlining the application process for potential investors, it is also more strict when monitoring work programs, Oca said.
“That’s tomake sure only serious investors and thosewith capability can participate,” he said.
Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla had said that unless there was justifiable cause and proper coordination with government, SC operators must strictly follow their approved work programs.
Otherwise, contracts would get cancelled and the vacated areas could be awarded to other groups.
Ranhill was awarded SC64 during the Philippine Energy Contracting Round of 2005.
In 2006, Ranhill Berhad and minority partner Phil-Mal PetroEnergy Corp. signed their service contract with the Philippine government (acting through the DOE), on the exploration, development and exploitation of petroleum resources for SC 64.
In a statement, Ranhill said SC64 covers 12,600 square kilometers in the Sulu Sea. The site comprises a portion of the Sandakan Basin and contains four previously drilled wells and 5,200kmof seismic lines, it added.
Ranhill said several international oil companies, including Arco and Occidental, had studied the area in the early 1970s and concluded that the area was rich in oil and gas. Ranhill’s current oil and gas investment in the Philippines includes another block, SC49, in Cebu. MANILA Electric Co., the country’s largest electric utility, is on track to hit a core net income of at least P17 billion this year on strong power demand.
“We’re hoping for higher,” Meralco President and CEO Oscar S. Reyes said in a yearend briefing. “We’re on track for P17 billion or slightly higher.” This boosts the utility’s core profit compared with P16.3 billion in 2012 and P14.9 billion in 2011.
Gadget-wielding consumers and expanding institutional customers are among those driving power sales, according to officials.
Energy sales volume grew by some 3 percent this year. This is slower than the 7 percent sales growth last year but the customer base is larger at 5.3 million this year from 5.19 million in 2012.
Tourism and real estate growth due to the expansion of business process outsourcing firms are also driving demand for electricity. One such real estate development is the 120-hectare Entertainment City or Pagcor City, which is rising in an area surrounded by malls and mixed-use highrises. The area could later add P3.6 billion to the power distributor’s annual sales.
Meralco is all set to put up a new substation in Parañaque City to serve the needs of the new entertainment hub.
The effect of the deferment of a record P4.15 per kilowatt-hour rate hike (due to higher power generation costs amid the Malampaya maintenance shutdown) that was supposedly due this December remains uncertain. Regulators allowed Meralco to stagger the increase through December as well as February and March 2014 but the Supreme Court stopped the utility firm from collecting any increa
Meralco earlier said it was keen o taining this year’s growth momentum into 2014 through higher capital spe to P15.6 billion from about P10.8 bil 2013.
“This is to ensure reliable, adequa cost-competitive power to our resid commercial and industrial custo Reyes said in a briefing in Hong Kon was conducted by companies under tructure holding firm Metro Pacific I ments Corp., a unit of Hong Kong First Pacific Co. Ltd.