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By Euan Paulo C. Añonuevo, Reporter
BURGUNDY Global Exploration Corp. (BGEC) has
inked a joint venture with Union Fenosa Gas, S.A. of Spain for the
latter’s petroleum service contract (SC) area in the Sulu Sea.
Under the agreement, Union Fenosa will take in a
40-percent stake in BGEC’s SC 62 for $200 million. BGEC will
retain the remaining 60-percent interest in the petroleum contract.
SC 62 is located in offshore East Balabac in
Southwestern Sulu Sea. The proximity of the area to the oil and gas
producing Island of Borneo, particularly Sabah and Palawan, makes it
attractive for petroleum exploration with a high degree of
prospectivity.
Michael Louis Sia, BGEC vice president, said
that studies conducted by the company found the area to have the
potential for huge amounts of oil and gas reserves.
Two wells have been drilled in the area in the
1970’s, yielding “good quality methane gas shows in large
structures.”
Should these structures contain good seals and
traps, the area could hold trillions of cubic feet of methane gas
and possibly oil similar to Sabah and Brunei, Sia said.
BGEC is a local exploration firm under the
Burgundy Group of Companies with interests in oil and gas
exploration blocks across the country.
Union Fenosa is a billion dollar company jointly
owned by the Union Fenosa Group of Spain and ENI Group of Italy with
a market capital of $78 billion. It is involved in exploration and
production, liquefaction, trans-portation, storage, trading and
distribution of natural gas.
Union Fenosa previously held a 40-percent stake
in Manila Electric Co. but decided to divest following a series of
regulatory decisions that forced the Philippines’ largest
electricity distributor to refund its customers over P30 billion.
Union Fenosa sold its stake to Lopez-controlled
First Philippine Holdings Corp. for $250 million.
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