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Begg Republic of the Philippines
. sae), DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

& ee (Kagawaran ng Enerhiya)

DEPARTMENT CIRCULAR NO. DC2023 - /0- 0029

GUIDELINES ON PETROLEUM DATA DECLASSIFICATION AND FREE
DATA ACCESS

WHEREAS, Section 2, Article XII of the 1987 Constitution provides that “/tjhe
exploration, development, and utilization of natural resources shall be under the full
control and supervision of the State’;

WHEREAS, Section 4 of Republic Act (RA) No. 7638, as amended, otherwise known
as “The Department of Energy (DOE) Act of 1992”, mandates the DOE to prepare,
integrate, coordinate, supervise and control all plans, programs, projects and activities
of the Government relative to energy exploration, development, utilization, distribution,
and conservation;

WHEREAS, Section 37 (k) of RA 9136, otherwise known as “The Electric Power
Industry Reform Act of 2001”, provides that the DOE shall have the power to, among
others, “[AJssess the requirements of, determine priorities for, provide direction to, and
disseminate information resulting from energy research and development programs
for the optimal development of various forms of energy production and utilization
technologies’,

WHEREAS, Section 2, Presidential Decree (PD) No. 87, as amended, otherwise
known as the “Oil Exploration and Development Act of 1972," declared it to be the
policy of the State “to hasten the discovery and production of indigenous petroleum
through the utilization of government and/or private resources, local and foreign, under
the arrangements embodied in this Act xxx” and provides in Section 8 (f) thereof, as
among the obligations of a Petroleum Service Contractor, the submission of geological
and other information, data and reports;

WHEREAS, on 8 November 1974, PD 575 created and established the Philippine
National Petroleum Center to, among others, “centralize all data and information on
the country’s petroleum resources’;

WHEREAS, at present, the Energy Data Center of the Philippines (EDCP) is the sole
central repository of petroleum, coal and geothermal energy data in the Philippines,
under the administrative supervision of the Information and Data Management Division
(IDMD) of the Information Technology and Management Services (ITMS) of the DOE;

WHEREAS, BED Circular No. 7 issued on 12 April 1976, provides that “[AJny
agreement among service contractors, petroleum exploration concessionaires and
other interested companies for the use of said data and/or information whether through
trade or exchange or for other valuable consideration, shall be subject to prior approval
of the Board”,

Energy Center, Rizal Drive cor. 34th Street, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City, Philippines 1632
Tel. No. (Trunkline) (632) 8479-2900
Website: http://www.doe.gov.ph; Email: info@doe.gov.ph
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WHEREAS, DOE Circular No. 93-11-09, issued on 10 November 1993, provides that
“(A]ll existing service contractors as well as geophysical survey contractors shall have
exclusive right to the data and information generated during the geophysical survey,
drilling, and/or production phase/s of operations undertaken pursuant to Presidential
Decree No. 87, as amended, and said data and information are considered
confidential and, as such, the data may not be made available to any outside parties
until such time that the contract has elapsed and the area covering said data and
information has been relinquished, in which case, the data and information may be
declassified by the DOE and made accessible to any interested party”;

WHEREAS, the DOE issued Department Circular (DC) No. DC2017-12-0017, titled
“Adopting the Philippine Conventional Energy Contracting Program (PCECP) of
Awarding Petroleum Service Contracts (PSCs) and Creating the Review and
Evaluation Committee (REC)”, to institute and implement a system of coordination and
administration, supervision and regulation during the implementation and operation of
the PSCs;

WHEREAS, the DOE is continuously adopting new mechanisms and strategies to
effectively carry out its plans and programs as mandated under PD 87, as amended,
including its implementing rules and regulations;

WHEREAS, exploration activities are data-driven and require different sets of
petroleum data to identify prospective areas for oil and gas;

WHEREAS, the DOE desires to attract more Exploration and Production (E&P)
companies to spur exploration activities which may provide new discoveries of oil and
gas fields leading to their development and production by declassifying petroleum data
and providing free access thereto;

NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the aforementioned premises, the following
guidelines are hereby adopted and promulgated for compliance by all concerned:

Section 1. Scope. This Circular shall apply to all petroleum data and reports stored in
the EDCP and all other petroleum data and reports that are in the possession, control,
and custody of third persons, whether as owners, interest partners or otherwise.

Section 2. Policy on Data Declassification.

2.1 Petroleum data and reports stored in the EDCP (hereinafter, the “EDCP
Data”) that were submitted pursuant to expired, relinquished, or
terminated PSCs are hereby declassified.

2.2 Petroleum data and reports that were submitted pursuant to an active
PSC shall be declassified upon the expiration of the exclusivity period as
stipulated in the PSC. In the absence of such stipulation in the PSC,
petroleum data and reports shall be declassified upon effectivity of this
Circular.

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All petroleum reports or data acquired, generated, processed, or
reprocessed pursuant to a multi-client agreement shall be declassified
upon the expiration of the exclusivity period stated in the multi-client
agreement.

All other technical data, reports, and interpretations not covered by the
preceding paragraphs shall be declassified immediately upon the
effectivity of this Circular.

Digital EDCP Data can either be: a) original (e.g., stored in 9-track tapes
or 3590/3592 tape cartridges or their latest medium), or b) copies
thereof. The sale, trade, exchange, and distribution of the EDCP Data is
unauthorized and strictly prohibited.

2.5.1 Original digital EDCP Data shall be returned to the EDCP within
a period of up to six (6) months after its withdrawal, subject to the
terms and conditions of the Data Use Agreement Form (DUAF).
In the case of 9-track tapes, the borrower shall return the EDCP
Data stored in 3590/3592 tape cartridges or their latest medium.
In the case of 3590/3592 tape cartridges or their latest medium,
the borrower shall return the tape cartridges.

In both cases, the borrower shall provide the EDCP with the data
stored in a portable external drive.

2.5.2 Original digital EDCP Data shall be borrowed subject to such
conditions as may be set by the DOE following its evaluation of
the request to borrow, including with respect to the ability of the
borrower to process and return the data in the required medium
and comply with the requirements of the DOE.

2.5.3 All borrowers of original digital EDCP Data shall exercise due care
in handling the data and shall be liable in case of damage or loss.
In the event of failure to comply with the provisions of this Circular
and the DUAF, the borrower, its assignees or successors-in-
interest shall not be allowed access to any EDCP Data and shall
be disqualified from participating in any contracting process of the
DOE.

2.5.3 Copied EDCP Data need not be returned to the EDCP.

Reports, evaluations and/or reprocessed data generated from the EDCP
Data shall be submitted to the DOE within three (3) years from the date
of the acquirer's receipt of the EDCP Data and shall thereafter be
immediately declassified, provided, that, such reports, evaluations
and/or reprocessed data may be sold, traded, exchanged, or distributed
within said three-year period so long as they have not been declassified.

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2.7. The DOE, through the REC, reserves the right to exclude any data,
report, or information which it deems to be of, or will affect national
security and other analogous instances.

Section 3. Data Repository. All petroleum data and reports that are required to be
submitted to the DOE shall be received and stored in the EDCP.

Section 4. Eligible Person/Entity on Free Data Access. Eligible persons/entities
referred to in the succeeding section are any of the following:

4.1 Government agencies and instrumentalities;

4.2 Service Contractors or their duly authorized representatives;
4.3 Potential investors or their duly authorized representatives;
4.4 Researchers/Students; and

4.5 Other persons/entities that may be allowed by the DOE upon written
request.

Section 5. Free Access to Data. Access to all declassified petroleum data and
reports may be given to any eligible person and/or entity free of charge, subject to the
applicable processing fee as stipulated below, which shall be reviewed and updated
periodically by the IDMD-ITMS, provided, that, the processing fee shall be waived for
students requesting access to data.

Data Type Processing Fee (PhP)
General Report per report 1,400.00
Well Report per well 1,400.00

Wire Line per well 1,400.00
Seismic Data per line/series 1,400.00
Well Core and Samples per section 1,500.00

Section 6. Data Request Procedure. All requests for data access shall comply with
the following procedures:

6.1. The requesting party shall submit a letter of intent addressed to the
Director of the ITMS, indicating the name, address, affiliation, and
purpose of the request for data access with the following supporting
documents:

a. For government agencies and instrumentalities, government ID and

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authorization;
b. For Service Contractors, company-issued ID and authorization;

c. For potential investors, government-issued ID and company-issued
ID;

d. For researchers/students, any government-issued ID of the
requesting party, proof of affiliation (if applicable), and endorsement
from the Dean/Professor of the academic institution (if applicable);

e. Other persons/entities that may be allowed by the DOE upon written
request, and submission of any government-issued ID, and proof of
affiliation (if applicable).

Letter of intent with incomplete supporting documents shall not be
accepted.

In the course of the evaluation, the DOE may require the submission of
other documents/requirements which it deems relevant to its review
and approval of the request.

Upon determination of the completeness of the requirements submitted,
the IDMD-ITMS shall provide the requesting party with a list of available
data and a Data Request Form (DRF), hereto attached as Annex A.

The requesting party shall submit the accomplished DRF to the IDMD-
ITMS, who shall transmit the same along with the supporting
requirements to the Petroleum Resources Development Division of the
Energy Resource Development Bureau (PRDD-ERDB) for its evaluation
and recommendation.

The PRDD-ERDB shall evaluate whether:

a. The data being requested is, or may affect, national security
concerns;

b. The requesting party is not a delinquent contractor or has unsettled
commitments with the DOE pursuant to a PSC, multi-client, or other
agreements;

c. The borrower has the ability to comply with this Circular; and

d. Other analogous instances.

The IDMD-ITMS shall act in accordance with the recommendation of the
PRDD-ERDB on the request, provided, that, in case of disapproval, the
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requesting party may file an appeal with the REC within fifteen (15) days
from notice of such disapproval.

6.6 Upon the favorable recommendation of the PRDD-ERDB, the IDMD-
ITMS shall issue to the requesting party a Billing Statement and DUAF.

6.7 The requesting party shall request for an Order of Payment (OP) from
the Accounting Division of the Financial Services.

6.8 The requesting party shall pay the processing fee to the Treasury
Division within ten (10) calendar days from the issuance of the OP.

6.9 The requesting party shall submit the Proof of Payment and duly
accomplished DUAF to the IDMD-ITMS. Thereafter, the IDMD-ITMS
shall release the data to the requesting party.

Section 7. REC Supervision. In recognition of the value and importance of petroleum
data to the country’s overall efforts in the exploration, development and utilization of
indigenous oil, the REC shall have overall supervision in the implementation of this
Circular, and may direct, as may be necessary, the review and updating of the policies
stated herein.

Section 8. Separability Clause. If for any reason, any section or provision of this
Circular and its Annexes is declared unconstitutional or invalid, such parts not affected
shall remain in full force and effect.

Section 9. Repealing Clause. BED Circular No. 7 and DOE Circular No. 93-11-09
are hereby repealed. All other DOE issuances inconsistent with the provisions of this
Circular are likewise repealed or amended accordingly.

Section 10. Effectivity. This Circular shall take effect fifteen (15) calendar days
following its publication in the Official Gazette or in at least two (2) newspapers of
general circulation. A copy of this Circular shall be filed with the University of the
Philippines Law Center — Office of National Administrative Register.

Issued this__— day of September 2023 at the DOE, Energy Center, Rizal Drive cor.
34" Street, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City, Metro Manila.

RAPHAEL P.M. LOTILLA
Secretary

SEP 29 2023