(Taguig City) To boost energy development in the Philippines, the Department of Energy (DOE) lead by Sec. Carlos Jericho L. Petilla recently concluded 2 Philippine Energy Contracting Round 5 (PECR5) roadshows in Australia and Turkey last September 9-10 and 14-17, 2014 respectively. 

The PECR5 delegation headed by OIC-USec Zenaida Monsada joined the more than 200 exhibitors in the conference and exhibitions hosted by the Resource Information Unit (RIU) Good Oil Conference in Perth, Australia and the Association of American Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) International Conference and Exhibition in Istanbul, Turkey. 

The RIU Good Oil Conference brought interests among companies through the country’s fiscal policies that create traction and interest among international investors. 

The AAPG International Conference and Exhibition also became an opportunity for the DOE delegation to hold exploratory talks with the ExxonMobil Corporation and the Turkish Petroleum International Company (TPIC) for possible stakes in energy resource development in the Philippines. 

“This is an opportunity for the country to present to the international community its potentials in energy development and exploration… hopefully through exhibitions we can find prospective developers that can be our partner in achieving energy security in the nation and essentially convert interests to bids.” said USec. Monsada.

During the exhibitions, the delegation promoted this licensure round’s 11 petroleum blocks / areas for offer with the largest located east of Palawan Island and covers 576,000 hectares. 

The data package of the PECR 5 is now powered by EZ Data and can be accessed in the contracting round’s official website, https://www.doe.gov.ph/pecr5/. 

(Taguig City) In view of the growing energy demands in the country, the Department of Energy (DOE) headed by Secretary Carlos Jericho L. Petilla calls for practical methods to ensure the Department’s aim for an energy efficient nation.

In line with this, the DOE is already spearheading the introduction of inter-active websites that can inform and create awareness to the consumers regarding energy efficiency. The wattmatters.org.ph encourages web visitors to calculate as well as simulate the monthly consumption, savings and projected energy efficiency of their desired appliances.  The kuryente.org.ph acts as a reference for consumers to be informed of the present electricity prices in their areas and the contents of their electricity bills.

 Since the website launch, the Secretary stated that bringing awareness to the consumers is the most effective technique in broadening the people’s understanding in the energy sector.

 “Transparency in the sector is a good model to create awareness and sound partnerships with our consumers… by then, they can be part of the solution of reducing our power consumptions, thus promoting efficiency and saving money as well.” said Sec. Petilla.

 The Energy Utilization Management Bureau (EUMB) has been robust in promoting energy efficiency through Information, Education and Communication Campaigns (IEC). Majority of IECs are hosted by Electric Cooperatives with their member-consumers as audiences. They presented the Energy Efficiency Ratio (EER) for air conditioners where a higher EER has a more efficient motor than the one with a lower EER. Furthermore, they familiarized the attendees with the Energy Efficiency Factor (EEF) for Refrigerators where a higher EEF consumes less electricity as compared with one having lower EEF.  

 The DOE is continuously convening IECs to inform consumers of the different methods to reduce energy consumption and espouse the principle of energy efficiency to all the households in the Philippines.