The response, according to energy undersecretary Eduardo Mañalac, has been good. "Most of the firms are based in the United States, Europe, Australia and Asia [and] these firms have bought data in preparation for the PCR-I," said Mañalac.

"The main concern of these companies, based on their preliminary talks with the government, is getting local partners. The common questions are about the Filipino participation, how that works. They have questions about the availability of local companies to partner with. I assured them that there are many local companies that have worked for many long years and are experts in specific areas of the licensing round, particularly Northwest Palawan," added Mañalac.

Amongst some of the companies that have shown interest have been BHP Billiton, TOTAL, Scott Oil, Norshsk Hydro, Genting Oil, PetroVietnam, Chevron Texaco, Amerada Hess, Hunt Oil, Occidental Petroleum, Marathon Oil Corp and Exxon Mobil. Mañalac is confident that more will participate.

"We are continuing our efforts to encourage foreign investors to consider PCR-I since this will be a one-time bidding," he said.

PCR-I is a DOE scheme designed to give excellent contractual and fiscal conditions to investors in the Philippines oil and gas sector. Under the terms of PCR-I, a contractor recovers its exploration and development costs from 70% gross proceeds and a maximum of 40% net proceeds. Investors are exempt from all tax save income tax and can receive a Filipino Participation Incentive Allowance (FPIA) of up 7.5% if it ventures into the sector with a minimum of 15% Filipino participation.

Around 46 new exploration blocks are covered under this bidding scheme, which was mooted in August last year.