PNOC-Exploration Corp. (PNOC-EC) and Nido Petroleum Ltd announced that they will commence drilling for a well at the area covered by Service Contract(SC) 63. Work on seismic data interpretation and locating possible sites to drill is estimated to be completed by next year. Service Contract 63 is found off the Southwest of the Palawan Island covering an area of 10,671 sq km.

Last 2007, they had acquired a 3255 kilometer 2D seismic survey in an area called the East Sabina block in SC 63. Midland Valley from the UK was contracted by them to help them interpret the data gathered during the survey. Last year they had also acquired the 754-square kilometer Kawayan 3D seismic survey where the 1981 Aboabo A1-X gas discovery was made by Phillips Petroleum Ltd.
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Interesting article from columnist Boo Chanco on why PNOC should be abolished on the event that the 10% Malampaya stake held by its subsidiary, PNOC-EC, is sold by the government in order to finance the government’s debt.
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In the continuing saga of the shortage of CNG for Buses, the operators of CNG buses in Metro Manila accused the Dept of Energy and Shell Philippines of collusion to ensure that the pilot CNG program for buses be declared a failure so that the operators will revert back to diesel.
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Compressed Natural Gas operators have been up in arms lately because the Shell CNG station in Mamplasan has been unable to supply the CNG needed to run their buses since October of 2010. These bus operators have invested heavily in the purchase of the buses powered by Natural Gas in order to be part of the government’s Department of Energy Natural’s Gas Vehicle Program for Public Transport (NGVPPT).
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According to the Department of Energy (DOE), there are about 24 Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) buses plying the capital of the Philippines to date. Those buses are able to use CNG, sold at P14.52/liter, to power their engines.

The DOE is targeting to accredit more bus operators to run CNG powered buses so as to bring the total number of CNG buses to 185. A total of seven bus operators where recently accredited, four of which were issued certificates of authority to allow them to import CNG buses.
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Energtek Inc, an Israeli based firm, is offering conversion kits for tricycle drivers to convert their vehicles to run on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) instead of the regular gasoline. They said that it will be 30-40% more economical than regular gasoline powered motorcycles.

Similar to LPG conversion kits, it will cost around P 15,000 for each tricycle driver. A refilling station which will tap the residual CNG from the closed down San Antonio natural gas power plant is already thought of being set up by the PNOC-EC. After 14 years of operation the 3 MW power plant is being closed down for lack of stable supply of natural gas.
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