PNOC-EC eyes businesses in Asia, LatAm

To help secure the country’s long-term energy needs, PNOC Exploration Corp. (PNOC-EC) is exploring business opportunities in Asia and Latin America.

PNOC-EC, whose shares are traded in the stock market, said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange it had reviewed the possibility of investing in West Papua in Indonesia, Myanmar, Peru and Colombia.

The state-run firm is trying to enter the coal mining business in Indonesia “in order to ensure a stable and competitive supply of coal for the Philippine market," continuing the strategic partnership that started in 2007 with Putra Asyano Mutiara Timur.

The partners have a mining project in the Ampah coal concession of East Kalimantan, Indonesia.

The energy exploration arm of the Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC) said it has concluded a technical evaluation, on a regional scale, of the petroleum blocks in Peru and Myanmar.

“The company has also completed preliminary evaluation of four blocks being offered under the 2010 Colombia Open Round," it said.

Colombia's Agencia Nacional de Hidrocarburos last year launched the bidding for 228 exploration blocks, with the bid submissions scheduled next June.

In 2009, PNOC-EC completed the block boundary and aerial topographic surveys of the Indonesian concession area, as well as the proposed route, access roads and location of the river jetty. Its legal, technical and financial due diligence in Indonesia started in 2008.

“Geologic evaluations and core drilling of exploration wells are still ongoing. After the completion of the drilling activities as well as the legal and financial due diligence, the company will evaluate whether to pursue the buy in and develop the area," it said.

The 5,000-hectare Ampah concession contains 12.5 million metric tons of potential reserves in a 300-hectare block of the concession.

The Philippine government, through PNOC, owns 99.78 percent of PNOC-EC’s shares of stock, with 0.22 percent held by other investors. - SVD, GMANews.TV

Source: gmanews.tv

Posted in: English,Mining