interesting morning, page-10

re: sandy.. here it is..charry hi charry

doing some digging, spoke with D.W

we have a heads up on a pending announcement..

got leaked before an offical announcment..

Nido are very excited...

regards

Sandy Found the article was dated 4 July. Bought some just in case. Good luck.

Vol. XVIII, No. 242
Monday, July 4, 2005 | MANILA, PHILIPPINES

Corporate World
BY IRA P. PEDRASA, Reporter

Gov’t to award 3 oil exploration deals; infusions seen at $35M
The government is awarding three more firms with oil and gas exploration contracts, with initial capital infusions estimated at $35 million in the next three years.

Energy Undersecretary Guiller-mo L. Balce told BusinessWorld American firm Ottoman-Energy Ltd., Australian-based Nido Pet-roleum Philippines Pty. Ltd. and publicly listed firm Alcorn Gold Resources Corp. will ink contracts with the Energy department in the next few weeks.

He said Ottoman, along with listed firm Trans-Asia Power Generation Corp., need to infuse $15 million for a deep-water exploration project in Southwest Palawan. "A three-year contract is pegged at $10 million just to drill one well, but since the rectangular blocks in the area have very deep water, the companies need at least $15 million," he said. The area measures 960,000 hectares.

Australian-based Nido Petroleum meanwhile may start drilling wells in Northwest Palawan upon affirmation of the service contract. The $10-million contract will explore at most 400,000 hectares.

Alcorn will explore two blocks in Northwest Leyte, including offshore Bohol and Cebu. Initial capital infusion is also pegged at $10 million for the 530,000-hectare area.

Mr. Balce said Energy Secretary Raphael P.M. Lotilla could now sign the contracts with the go signal from Malaca§ang.

Meanwhile, pending before the Energy department is the approval of a geothermal exploration project with Aragorn Power and Energy Corp.

The unit of listed firm APC Group, Inc. is expected to pour in some $2 million for the two-year project in north Luzon particularly in mining areas Batong Buhay in Kalinga and Acupan in Benguet.

"They are still applying but more or less we have agreed on the negotiations. We just have some issues to iron out. These areas have mining contracts so we’re talking with the companies involved there. But I don’t see any problems really," Mr. Balce added.

He said the Energy department finds the company credible. This year, it was awarded a service contract to explore petroleum reserves in the Cagayan Valley Basin.

"The geothermal project or the exploration of steam can be used for power generation. It requires locating areas with temperature of 180 degrees Celsius up to 220 degrees Celsius," he added.

If it fails to reach that temperature, there is still a "cascading" use for geothermal steam. The project can still be made feasible for other uses such as salt making and air-conditioning, he added. The spa benefits of the geothermal steam can also help boost the tourism industry, he said.

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