Philippines May Soon Own Vast Gas-Rich Area

- Philippines May Soon Own Vast Gas-Rich Area

Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
by Cathy Yamsuan, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Manila /

The Philippines will gain 13 million hectares in additional territory, an area slightly smaller than Luzon, should the United Nations approve next year the government's claim on a region off the coast of Isabela and Aurora, Environment Secretary Ramon Jesus Paje said.

Paje said the undersea region, called Benham Rise, could turn the Philippines into a natural gas exporter because of the area's huge methane deposits.

Studies conducted by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) for the past five years indicate large deposits of methane in solid form, Paje said after a Senate budget hearing.

The government is only awaiting a formal declaration from the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea (Unclos) that Benham Rise is on the country's continental shelf and therefore part of its territory, Paje said.

Legal basis

Once the Unclos establishes that Benham Rise is part of the Philippines, "we would have legal basis to enter into exploration agreements with private companies to explore...(the area's) resources," said Sen. Franklin Drilon, chair of the chamber's finance committee.

Drilon said a favorable Unclos declaration would mean "increasing our territory from present 30 million hectares to possibly 43 million" with the inclusion of Benham Rise.

Discussion over Benham Rise generated excitement especially after Paje said that Philippine representatives were just awaiting one more meeting "to answer questions" before a special Unclos committee.

Only claim

Paje said there was no reason for the Unclos committee not to issue a decision favorable to the country "since we are the only claimant, unlike in the western side (where the Spratly Islands are)."

"We have submitted a claim under (Unclos) sometime in late 2008. We got a reply from the UN lately (asking us) to answer some questions. They intend to pass a resolution sometime in mid-2012 to approve our claim (that it is) part of the Philippine continental shelf," Paje told reporters after the hearing.

Records showed that the Philippines officially submitted a claim with the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf in New York on April 8, 2009.

Davide submission

Hilario Davide, then Philippine ambassador to the United Nations, filed the country's partial submission with the commission.

The United Nations says the continental shelf is "the seabed and subsoil of the submarine areas that extend beyond its territorial sea" up to 370 km (200 nautical miles) from the archipelagic baseline. An extended continental shelf goes farther than 370 km.

The Philippines claims that Benham Rise is an extension of its continental shelf.

Paje said Benham Rise was within the country's 370-km exclusive economic zone.

American geologist

The environment secretary said an American geologist surnamed Benham discovered the area that was between 40 and 2,000 meters below the waterline in 1933.

"But we are able to define categorically that it is attached to our continental shelf only recently. We have proven (to) Unclos that it is attached. So now the UN is considering it for decision sometime in 2012," Paje said.

He said gas deposits in the area would enable the country to achieve energy sufficiency.

"Benham Rise is very relevant because of its gas deposits (which has been) confirmed particularly by (the) National Mapping Resource Information Agency. It has given us the data that (the area) contains solid methane. We have not explored it but we have found nodules of methane in the surface and this is very important to us," he said.

Kalayaan, Scarborough

The Kalayaan Island Group, which is part of the disputed Spratly Islands and Scarborough Shoal, both located in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) and claimed by the Philippines, are also believed to contain oil and natural gas.

Paje said there was the possibility that the country could export gas in the future.

The secretary added that there would be a demand for gas deposits in Benham Rise "because it's much cleaner than (other) fossil fuels."

The DENR formally submitted its proposed P16.99-billion (US$40 million) budget for 2012 to the Senate finance committee.

Copyright (c) 2011, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Manila / Asia News Network

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Vast Exploration Adds Member to BOD

- Vast Exploration Adds Member to BOD

Thursday, August 04, 2011
Vast Exploration Inc.

Vast Exploration announced the appointment of General (Ret'd) Jay Garner as Chairman of the board of directors.

Mr. Stan Bharti, commented, "We are delighted to add General Garner back to the board of directors. Jay has been recently serving as an advisor to the Company, and his guidance has been invaluable over the past several years. We look forward to Jay's leadership and distinguished experience as we move forward to the next phase of the Kurdistan project."

General Garner's military career culminated with his being Assistant Vice Chief of Staff, U.S. Army. In January 2003, General Garner was appointed by the Secretary of Defense to organize and direct the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance (ORHA) for post-war Iraq. In 1991, General Garner was appointed Commanding General, Joint Task Force Bravo for Operation Provide Comfort in northern Iraq. Under his leadership, a coalition of American, British, French and Italian forces provided humanitarian relief assistance to the Iraqi Kurds.

The Company is also pleased to announce that it has appointed Neil Said as the Corporate Secretary of the Company. Mr. Neil Said is a corporate securities lawyer who works as a legal consultant to various TSX and TSX Venture listed companies in the mining and oil & gas industries. Mr. Neil Said previously worked as a securities lawyer at a large Toronto corporate law firm. He obtained his JD degree from the University of Toronto and received a Bachelor of Business Administration from Wilfrid Laurier University. In connection with his appointment, Mr. Said has been granted 200,000 stock options to purchase the same number of common shares of the Company at a price of $0.16 per option exercised. The stock options, and any shares issued on exercise thereof, will be subject to a four month statutory hold period.

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Vast Exploration Closes Putumayo Farm-Out

- Vast Exploration Closes Putumayo Farm-Out

Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Vast Exploration Inc.

Vast Exploration has closed its previously announced farm-out of a 90% interest in the Putumayo Basin of Colombia Block (the "Block") to a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sagres Energy Inc. ("Sagres") in consideration for the Company retaining a 10% carried interest during the first exploration phase (the "Carried Interest").

The Block has an area of 148,000 acres (gross) and is located in the Putumayo Basin of Colombia. The Block offers exploration upside on a structural trend with existing discoveries, and is situated strategically between two blocks (CAG-6 and PUT-09) awarded to Pacific Rubiales and Talisman Energy, respectively. The Block carries a royalty of 7% payable to the Government of Colombia in addition to the basic royalty scheme established under Colombia Law, being 8% for up to 5,000 bopd and increasing to 25% for a 600,000 bopd field. All other terms of the contract are standard to the model Colombian E&P Contract. Sagres will have an option to acquire the Company's Carried Interest in the Block over the next twelve months at a price to be mutually agreed.

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