The Department of Energy (DOE) ushers in the new year announcing its support for an oil discovery with potential commercial quantity in the Visayan Basin in a bid to strengthen energy security efforts for the country.

In line with this, the DOE welcomes the discovery of oil in Gas2Grid Limited’s Malolos-1 well and granted the service contract area operator’s request for a one-year extension.

Gas2Grid acquired Service Contract (SC) 44 on January 2004 and has drilled for a decade prior to its recent discovery which, based on initial studies, has significant oil reserves. The extension is pursuant to the precept in SC 44 which states that: “if Petroleum is discovered by the end of the seventh or tenth year, the Contract shall be further extended to determine whether the discovery is in commercial quantity.”

Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho L. Petilla notes that “the discovery in the SC 44 is a boost to the country's upstream industry, and we will provide the necessary support to advance its development."

“We are pushing for indigenous energy resources to flourish in order to lessen our dependence to the volatile international energy market,” he added.

For 2014, the DOE will launch the Philippine Energy Contracting Round 5 (PECR 5) within the first quarter of the year. PECR 5 is a transparent and competitive system for awarding service contracts aimed at attracting energy investors to develop the country’s indigenous oil and gas resources.