DOE SOLICITING COAL EXPLORATION COUNTEROFFERS

parties are welcome to challenge a proposal to harness coal resources in Mindanao, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced.

Vintage-21 Coal Mining Corp. submitted to the agency an application to explore and develop four coal blocks located in Lingig, Surigao del Sur and Boston, Davao Oriental.

In the invitation to bid released by the DOE, bidders are given 60 calendar days or two months from the date of publication to send their counterproposals.

Vintage-21’s offer was postlion ed on the DOE website on Friday, meaning those interested should submit documents no later than Sept. 20. All documents received by the DOE will be opened on the same day.

A presubmission conference was scheduled for Aug. 11 or 20 calendar days from the publication date.

Applicants should submit three complete sets of legal, technical and financial documents to the DOE records section, and pay a nonrefundable application fee of P200,000 per area to the DOE Treasury Division.

Vintage-21 nominated certain areas for coal resource exploration under the department’s Philippine

Conventional Energy Contracting Program (PCECP), a policy adopted by the DOE to award coal and petroleum service contracts.

Launched in 2018, the PCECP facilitates the exploration and development of the country’s indigenous resources and aims to revitalize the upstream oil and gas sector.

Under this scheme, companies may bid on the predetermined areas by the DOE or nominate their own areas of interest.

The PCECP is open to any local or foreign company or group of companies forming a joint venture or consortium, organized or authorized for the purpose of engaging in petroleum exploration and development.