With the scheduled submission of applications by Aug. 27, the Department of Energy (DOE) has raised hopes that it can corner acceptable tenders for offered hydrogen investments as well as upstream petroleum ventures, especially in the pioneering auction round for the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).

On next week’s bid activity, the DOE indicated that at least three pre-determined areas (PDAs) in the BARMM domain are on offer; then there would also be two PDAs for native hydrogen exploration in Luzon.

Complementing the petroleum blocks to be auctioned are the areas covering the two 
stranded petroleum reserves in the Calauit field in Northwest Palawan; as well as the Alegria field in Cebu.

For the targeted oil and gas exploration ventures in Mindanao, the energy department stipulated that the acceptance of bids as well as the awarding of contracts shall be carried out in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources and Energy (MENRE) in the BARMM jurisdiction.

The DOE and MENRE first unveiled the upstream petroleum and hydrogen projects auction round in February this year, to give interested parties ample time to assess prospects in the offered blocks as well as the targeted sites for hydrogen facilities.

According to Energy Undersecretary Alessandro O. Sales, the scheduled auction for petroleum service contracts – primarily the blocks in the BARMM domain, “underscores the strong collaboration between the national government and the Bangsamoro government.”

The two agencies, he qualified, is working within the precept of a “shared goal of awarding petroleum service contracts to qualified applicants who will partner in the development of the BARMM's energy resources.”

During the slated submissions at 11:00am on Tuesday (August 27), the DOE emphasized that 
“accepted application documents will undergo a completeness check to determine their eligibility for further legal, technical, and financial evaluations.”

The DOE previously announced that the planned project-sites for hydrogen will be at the ophiolite complex in Zambales and the other will be in Pangasinan, which are both in the Northern Luzon region of the country.

For the Calauit petroleum field, in particular, data had shown that its reserve potential could be in the range of 5.5 to 6.1 million barrels of oil; and that could still be ramped for additional prospects of 0.1 to 1.8 million oil barrels.

The Alegria field in Cebu, on the other, could yield 26.3 to 31.9 million barrels of oil; and gas production potential is also seen, but that has to be confirmed with the drilling of additional exploratory wells.

Fresh capital flow in the country’s upstream oil and gas sector is being resuscitated aggressively by the Marcos administration, following lack of exploration and drilling activities in this industry for more than a decade already.