PH signs oil exploration deal with Israeli firm

The Philippines has signed a seven-year oil exploration deal with an Israeli firm covering an area east of Palawan, Malacañang said Thursday.

The Petroleum Service Contract (PSC) was signed by President Rodrigo Duterte, Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi, and Ratio Petroleum President and CEO Itay Raphael Tabibzada on Wednesday in Malacañang.

The PSC is the first petroleum service contract signed under the Duterte administration.

The Department of Energy (DOE), in a statement, said Ratio Petroleum qualified for the exploration of Area 4, a 416,000-hectare area in east Palawan.

Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said the deal is part of the government’s thrust to provide energy security for Filipinos.

“Ang nagiging problema naman kasi natin e wala tayong oil kaya hirap na hirap tayo compared sa ibang countries na meron (Our problem is that we don’t have a lot of oil so we’re having a difficult time compared to countries that have). We’ve been dependent on oil-producing countries for a while so we need to boost the exploration and development of energy resources,” Panelo said in a Palace briefing.

“The projected minimum expenditure will be $34, 350,000 to be derived from studies, data gathering and drilling activities over the initial seven-year contract duration,” he added.

Established in 1992, Ratio Petroleum has a number of large-scale operations at the Levant Basin in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of Israel, as well as off-shore operations in the Republic of Malta and the Co-operative Republic of Guyana. /je