According to a press release, Ratio Oil could have signed service contract for Area 4 with the Philippines Department of Energy (DOE) for the Philippine Energy Contracting Round V (PECR V) on 4 September 2018. Area 4 is an offshore block located in the northeastern flank of the East Palawan Basin. It covers an area of 4,160 sq km and lies at water depth of around 200 m to 2,000 m.  The winning bidders for PECR V were earlier planned to be announced on 4 September 2015. On 30 June 2015, the DOE endorsed the bid applications for only four areas out of the total 11 areas offered. Local company Colossal Petroleum has put in bids for Area 5 and 7 (East Palawan and Recto Bank) whilst Area 1 (Southeast Luzon) received bid from Yulaga Oil. Colossal has passed the qualifying stage and is being considered for evaluation. Yulaga Oilâs bid for Area 1 was considered disqualified due to lack of financial, technical and legal documents. The summary of the bid applications is shown in Table 1.            Table 1: PECR V bidders             Block            Location            Bidder/Company            Remarks             Area 1            Southeast   Luzon            Yulaga   Oil Exploration Ent.            Disqualified      Lacking essential   documentations             Area 2            West   Masbate/IloIlo               No   Offer/ Bidder             Area 3            West   Masbate/IloIlo               No Offer/   Bidder             Area 4            East   Palawan            Ratio   Oil Exploration            Qualified      For evaluation             Area 5            East   Palawan            Colossal   Petroleum            Qualified      For evaluation             Area 6            East   Palawan               No   Offer/ Bidder             Area 7            Recto   Bank            Colossal   Petroleum            Qualified      For evaluation             Area 8            West   Luzon               No   Offer/ Bidder             Area 9            West   Luzon               No   Offer/ Bidder             Area 10            West   Luzon               No   Offer/ Bidder             Area 11            Southeast   Luzon               No   Offer/ Bidder        Â   The Israel-based Ratio Oil is an E&P company that holds interests in Rachel/349, Amit/350, Hanna/351, Gal/202, Neta/398, and Royee/399 licenses located in the Mediterranean Sea. Â   On 30 of January 2015, the submission deadline for PECR V was extended from the original date 31 March 2015 to 30 June 2015. The nomination date for winning participants has also been revised from 04 June 2015 to 4 September 2015. The new timeline came after the DOE allowed a third party to make an initial 2D seismic survey over the blocks in West Luzon and over in East Palawan. With the new seismic data, the extension date will provide potential investors more time to study the prospectivity of the areas on offer.     Background Information  The DOE officially launched the PECR V on 9 May 2014. Eleven (11) petroleum areas have been offered for bidding (see list below) with a total area of more than 47,000 sq km. A pre-submission conference was scheduled on 13 May 2014. Application submission commenced on 02 June 2014 and last day of acceptance of bids was originally planned on 31 March 2015. Winning applicants were originally targeted to be endorsed on 04 June 2015.     These areas will be awarded through an internationally accepted licensing process with a minimum application fee of approximately USD4,500. The review and evaluation committee, headed by the Undersecretary and composed of experts in the technical, financial and legal fields, will process the application. Winning applicant will be charged additional processing fee of US$1.08 per sq km.     Nominated areas have been allowed in this bidding round (as approved by the DOE) with consultation conducted with local operators in early January 2014. Deadline to submit nominated areas was set on 28 March 2014. PECR V will also include coal areas for bidding.  In relation to PECR V, DOE released Department Circular No. DC2014-02-0005 to cover the determination of the legal, technical, financial qualifications of applicants, bidding process/procedures, the evaluation of applications and the award of corresponding contracts for petroleum and coal areas. Under this circular, a Review and Evaluation Committee was also established.Â  The full copy of the circular can be downloaded from the following link: http://www.doe.gov.ph/issuances/department-circular/2319-dc2014-02-0005.    Areas for Offer: Please refer to attached map            Table   2: Areas Offered for PECR V             Block            Sq Km            Location             Area 1            4,240            Southeast Luzon             Area 2            1,960            West Masbate/IloIlo             Area 3            3,400            West Masbate/IloIlo             Area 4            4,160            East Palawan             Area 5            5,760            East Palawan             Area 6            4,800            East Palawan             Area 7            4,680            Recto Bank             Area 8            4,880            West Luzon             Area 9            4,640            West Luzon             Area 10            4,520            West Luzon             Area 11            4,800            West Luzon
According to a press release, Ratio Oil could have signed service contract for Area 4 with the Philippines Department of Energy (DOE) for the Philippine Energy Contracting Round V (PECR V) on 4 September 2018. Area 4 is an offshore block located in the northeastern flank of the East Palawan Basin. It covers an area of 4,160 sq km and lies at water depth of around 200 m to 2,000 m. The winning bidders for PECR V were earlier planned to be announced on 4 September 2015. 