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A UNIT of Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC) is set
to sell additional shares to the public by the second half of this
year to raise funds for new projects.
Publicly listed PNOC-Exploration
Co. (PNOC-EC) is scheduled to sell 2.1 billion shares for an almost
60-percent stake in the company.
“Our target is this year. And
our studies show that we can do this in 20 weeks,” Rafael del
Pilar, PNOC-EC officer in charge, said.
According to del Pilar, the
company has an authorized capital stock of 3.5 billion, with 1.5
billion of these yet to be issued. About 600 million shares would be
sold by the parent company in a secondary offer at a par value of P1
per share.
At present, PNOC-EC is 99 percent
owned by the government.
Del Pilar said the proceeds of
the sale would fund the company’s drilling projects in Mindoro and
Ragay Gulf. He said the company, which would have a 19-percent
equity in the project, would start drilling oil in an offshore site
in southern Mindoro in partnership with Malaysia-based Petronas,
which has a 1-percent stake.
PNOC-EC would also drill for oil
in Ragay Gulf, which lies between the Bicol peninsula and Bondoc
peninsula in Quezon. This project is a partnership with Pearl, an
Abu Dhabi-based company, and British firm Premier.
PNOC-EC earlier said it is eyeing
some overseas exploration prospects in West Africa and the Middle
East. The company may also venture into Brunei, Timor Leste and
Indonesia.
Besides oil, PNOC-EC is also into
coal development, production and trading and it also provides port
and warehousing services to energy and commercial clients through
its Energy Supply Base south of Metro Manila.
Its sister-company, PNOC-Energy
Development Corp. last year sold shares to the public for the first
time, making it the second company in the PNOC group to go public.
--Likha C. Cuevas
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