| Philippines, Brunei to jointly explore oil, gas in Timor-Leste |
MANILA, Jan. 18 (Xinhua) -- The Philippines and Brunei will jointly develop oil and gas resources in Timor-Leste (formerly East Timor), Philippine Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla said on Thursday.
Lotilla was quoted by GMA news network as saying that Timor-Leste officials, on the sidelines of the recent Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit in Cebu, invited the Philippines and Brunei to explore oil in their country.
"The energy minister of Brunei and I were able to agree that we will take up East Timor's offer for us to jointly develop oil and gas resources in East Timor. We will be asking the Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC) to represent the Philippines in going into the details of this agreement," Lotilla said.
PNOC-Exploration Corp., the government's oil and gas exploration arm, and the Department of Energy will work out the details of the agreement, including the extent of the country's participation in the joint project, Lotilla said.
The energy secretary expressed confidence that the project would help boost the country's energy supply, noting that Timor-Leste has one of the richest deposits of oil and gas in the region.
"If the country gains an opportunity in exploring those resources, then we will be able to help each other," Lotilla said.
If the agreement pushes through, it would be the Philippines' first energy project with the Timor-Leste, which achieved independence in 2002 from Indonesia.
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