Investors from the Middle East – primarily energy companies from Qatar, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia – are enthusiastically eyeing to funnel investments into offshore oil and gas exploration ventures in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM), according to Energy Secretary Raphael P.M. Lotilla.

“There is a natural affinity and there is great interest on their part to be able to help out in the Bangsamoro region, so we hope that we can look forward to deepening our cooperation with these countries,” the energy chief noted.

For upstream oil and gas prospects, Lotilla emphasized that Sulu Sea prospects had been
“relatively underexplored,” and it is in these deep water blocks that foreign investors are being enticed for capital infusion.

At this stage, the energy chief stated that he cannot disclose yet the names of the interested foreign investors, but he just hinted “definitely there’s a major company that is looking at opportunities -- especially in the offshore areas between Sulu and Maguindanao.”

He qualified that “there were previous explorations, but now because of their (investors) greater confidence that the administration is welcoming to foreign investments, they have expressed interest now in doing exploration activities in the Sulu Sea area.”

Several foreign firms, including US energy giant Exxon Mobil and French firm Total, had tried their luck at extracting gas deposits from Sulu Sea basin, but after exploration activities and even well drillings, Exxon in particular opted to abandon the site due to ‘non-commercial’ stature of targeted discovery.

Another investment proposition that is recurrently dangled to foreign firms is planned petroleum exploration at the Liguasan Marsh, a prospect that straddles Mindanao River Basin and this spans through Maguindanao and parts of Cotabato, or potential service contract sites within the BARMM territory.

For the fresh interest being signified by the Middle Eastern countries, Lotilla asserted “we would like them particularly to invest in the Bangsamoro region,” because these investors are perceptibly seen to have intrinsic cultural links with these predominantly-Muslim provinces.

And given that the targeted offshore exploration ventures are typically high risk, Lotilla indicated that “we will do our best that the investors will find a welcoming investment climate.”

Lotilla expounded that the recent agreement between the Department of Energy and the BARMM on the award of petroleum service contracts had been a step deemed by investors as a signal on the readiness of the country to welcome fresh capital infusion into the BARMM territories.

“It is a very healthy indication that with these agreement between the national government and the Bangsamoro government, we are attracting more attention to the possibilities in that region,” the energy secretary stressed.

He further emphasized “it’s not only the Middle Eastern countries that we are encouraging but even non-Middle Eastern countries as well.”