The Department of Energy (DoE) is set to give five more coal operating contracts to add to the 11 that have already been awarded to different exploration companies following this year’s Philippine Energy Contracting Round (PECR) for coal.

As part of the national government’s agenda to reduce dependency on imported coal, the Philippine hopes to achieve 60 percent self-sufficiency by 2010. The country currently imports 70 percent of its coal requirements.

Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes said the department will be signing three contracts for Titan Exploration and Development Corporation covering coal potential areas in Zamboanga Sibugay.

On the other hand, Black Gem Resources and Energy Inc. and Dell Equipment and Construction Corporation will each be given a contract to probe the occurrence of commercial quantities of coal in Davao Oriental and South Cotabato, respectively.

The three firms will earmark a total of about P235 million for the exploration of their contract areas, the DoE said.

The agency also noted the “increased interest” in the exploration and development of indigenous coal resources in the country during the contracting round, which ended last June.

PECR 2009 put up 30 areas of interest or “coal block systems” for bidding, about half of which are located in Mindanao. The venture is expected to rake in investments reaching P580 million over a two-year exploration period.

At the time of the closing of the contracting round, the DoE received 25 contract proposals from over a dozen companies.

Other winning exploration firms include Oriental Energy and Power Generation Corp.; Titan Exploration and Development Corp.; MS-SK Coal Corp.; 3 Kings Sunrise Mining Corp.; Lebach Mining Corp., Eoil and Gas Company Inc., and ASK Mining and Exploration Corp.