(Eagle News) — President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday, October 17 signed the Petroleum Service Contract No. 76 with Israel’s Ratio Petroleum Ltd., covering the East Palawan Area.
The petroleum service contract for the Area 4, the fifth round of the Philippine Energy Contracting Round (PECR5), was signed at the Heroes Hall in Malacañang, Palace.
According to the Department of Energy, the service contract deal will allow the Israeli firm to explore the Area 4, covering 416,000 hectares across the East Palawan Basin for potential oil and gas resources.
“This is the first petroleum service contract signed under the Duterte administration,” Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said.
“In fact, the last service contract awarded was with PXP Energy Corporation. This was almost five years ago in 2013,” he added.
The President and Cusi signed the deal on behalf of the Philippine government while Israeli Ambassador to the Philippines Rafael Harpaz and officials of Ratio Petroleum Ltd. signed for the service contract.
Cusi said the service contract aims to help the country to attain energy security and sustainability at the soonest possible time.
“The President has been very clear – our country needs to attain energy security and sustainability at the soonest possible time. We are currently experiencing how our dependence on importation has left us at the mercy of price movements in the global oil markets,” Cusi said in a statement.
“We need to boost the exploration and development of our own energy resources and the awarding of the petroleum service contract to Ratio Petroleum is a step in the right direction,” he added.
