The Philippine department of energy said it has awarded an oil and gas exploration contract to an international consortium that includes Australia's BHP Billiton Petroleum PTY Ltd., Amerada Hess Ltd., Unocal Sulu Ltd. and Sandakan Oil II LLC, local media reported Thursday.

The contract covers 8,620 hectares in the Sulu Sea of the southern Philippines.

The department estimates the resource potential of the Sulu Sea field at around 203 million barrels of fuel oil.

It said the consortium would spend 43.85 million US dollars to undertake exploration activities over seven years.

Source: Xinhua