Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi issued a petroleum service contract to Mindanao-based SK Liguasan Oil and Gas Corp. for the development of the onshore Cotabato Basin, including the Liguasan Marsh.
Cusi confirmed the signing of Petroleum Service Contract No. 77 with SKLOGC last week.
The new service contract covers the 72,000-hectare petroleum-prospective area in onshore Cotabato Basin. The basin sits on 1.2-million hectare area in Central Mindanao spanning the provinces of Sultan Kudarat, Maguindanao, North and South Cotabato. It also includes Liguasan Marsh.
SKLOGC was the challenger for the nominated Area 9 of the Philippine Conventional Energy Contracting Program―a transparent petroleum service contract awarding mechanism that allows the government to develop and utilize indigenous petroleum resources through qualified local and international exploration companies.
SKLOGC passed the completeness check under the evaluation criteria in the PCECP guidelines, but the original nominating party, Banaba Oil and Gas Energy Corp., failed to comply with the requirements.
SKLOGC identified 22 sites in the Maguindanao-Liguasan area that have potential for oil and gas deposits.
Cusi endorsed the contract to the Office of the President for final approval, which was subsequently cleared.
The DOE said in a letter to SKLOGC in February that the Office of the President granted it the authority to proceed with the awarding of the contract for nominated area 9 “provided that SKLOGC shall submit an undertaking stating, among others, that it shall abide by the final decision of the Supreme Court relative to tax assumption provisions of other existing PSCs.”
