PHL holds talks with China, Japan, other partners on energy ventures
By Victor V. Saulon
Sub-Editor
THE DEPARTMENT of Energy (DoE) said on Monday that the Philippines has held bilateral talks with China, Japan, Singapore, and the US-ASEAN Business Council on a possible cooperation in oil exploration and the natural gas industry.
It said the Philippine delegation, led by DoE Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi, also covered areas on renewable energy and emerging technologies during the talks.
“The Philippine government is committed to ensure necessary assistance to all energy investors from cooperation partners, and uphold to the government commitments for the benefit of both parties, and most importantly, of the Filipino energy consumers,” Mr. Cusi said.
The discussions were an offshoot of the 35th ASEAN Ministers on Energy Meeting hosted by the Philippines last week, on which Mr. Cusi said “the Philippines is attuned with the ASEAN’s vision of being the bright spot for energy investments and development in the global arena.”
The Philippines is finalizing policies on natural gas and may have agreements with development partners, including China, Japan, and Singapore after the publication of the policy on Oct. 30 “to fully embark on viable LNG cooperation projects,” he said.
Other areas of cooperation are on renewable energies with possible joint ventures with Singapore on waste-to-energy, floating solar photovoltaic and battery technologies; with the International Renewable Energy Agency on scaling up geothermal energy and renewable energy mini-grids for rural electrification; and with US-ASEAN Business Council greening the grid and renewable energy zoning.
The DoE said the bilateral talks also covered initiatives on fuel marking to avoid counterfeiting of petroleum products, benchmarking of commodities for price transparency, smart grids using advanced digital information communication technology, electric vehicles for lower carbon emissions, the Visayas-Mindanao interconnection project, nuclear energy utilization and the building of power generation facilities, particularly in island provinces.
Mr. Cusi said his office had requested Japan through its Manila embassy for a non-project grant to assist the rebuilding of Marawi’s damaged electrical infrastructures and facilities. The Philippines’ armed forces continue to fight it out with a terror group to regain control of the southern city.
He also said he had informed the Chinese delegation on the latest update regarding Service Contract (SC) 57, covering the area offshore Calamian northwest of Palawan.
SC 57 was awarded in 2007 to PNOC Exploration Corp. with pending farm-in agreement with Mitra Energy Ltd., and state-run China National Offshore Oil Co. as endorsed to President Rodrigo R. Duterte for clearance.
