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Petronas, PNOC team up for Philippine oil
project
MANILA - Petronas, the
Malaysian national oil company, has sealed a joint
venture with the state-run Philippine National Oil Co
(PNOC) for an offshore oil- exploration project in the
Philippines.
Philippine President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo and Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah
Ahmad Badawi, who arrived here Monday night for a state
visit, said Petronas and the PNOC had agreed to an P800
million (US$14.4 million) joint venture to drill for oil
off the island of Mindoro.
"This [investment]
will be another fruit of our efforts to develop our
indigenous energy resources. We are now, under my
administration, have been able to achieve 53 percent
self-sufficiency in energy, and this exploration jointly
with Petronas will help us to increase that
self-sufficiency further," Arroyo said.
The
joint venture will have a service contract with the
Philippine Energy Department to carry out the drilling
of one well during the first phase of a seven-year
period.
The Energy Department said the area off
of Mindoro Island, some 150 kilometers south of Manila,
was "the most attractive exploration acreage in terms of
petroleum potential."
Under the agreement,
Petronas Carigali Overseas Sdn Bhd, the overseas
exploration arm of Petronas, will take 85 percent of the
venture.
Abdullah welcomed the success in
establishing cooperation with Petronas and PNOC. "I hope
that this partnership will be able to create new wealth
for the Philippines and oil exploration," he said.
Both leaders also discussed other ways to boost
economic ties, including a request from Arroyo for
national carrier Malaysia Airlines to fly to the
southern Philippines to increase trade, tourism and
investment within the BIMP-EAGA
(Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East Asian Growth
Area).
Abdullah said they also talked about
Malaysians setting up plantations in the Philippines.
"We were talking about palm oil, we were talking about
rubber. We have the capacity, we have the expertise," he
said.
The Malaysian prime minister also stressed
the need for economic development to bring stability to
the southern Philippines where Muslim separatist
guerrillas remain active. Malaysia is mediating in peace
talks between the Philippine government and the rebels.
He said Malaysia would also support the
capacity-building program in the southern Philippines as
espoused in the last Japan-ASEAN (Association of
Southeast Asian Nations) Commemorative Summit,
particularly in human-resource development and training
opportunities.
Meanwhile, the Philippine
presidential palace announced the appointment of
businessman Paul Aquino as the acting president of
PNOC-EDC (Energy Development Corp). Aquino replaced
Sergio A F Apostol, who will take a leave of absence to
pursue his political career in Leyte for the May
elections.
Aquino was a member of the PNOC-EDC
board prior to his new assignment. He held several
positions in the private sector as consultant at
Goodwill Trading Co Inc and Sycip Gorres Velayo Inc,
board director of Solid Mills Inc, and president of
Computer Shoppe Inc, among others.
PNOC-EDC is
the geothermal arm of the Philippine government,
operating four geothermal power projects in Leyte,
Luzon, Negros and Mindanao with a total installed
capacity of 1,148 megawatts. It accounts for about 50
percent of the total installed geothermal energy
capacity in the country.
(Asia Pulse/PNA)
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