By Nazario Rodriguez Jr.
Horizon news staff

The House of Delegates has adopted on Wednesday the Senate Joint Resolution requesting the President to seek technical assistance from donor organizations to conduct a comprehensive study and advise on the proposed laws and regulations for the petroleum and energy sector.
SJR No. 7-54,SD2, HD1 was introduced Senate President Johnny Reklai.
According to the report of the House Committee on Resources and Development chaired by Noah Idechong, the resolution was initially introduced on May 2006.
On October 27, the committee suggested the tabling of the resolution until further deliberation between the two Houses of the OEK regarding a unified front in promoting one legislative measure instead of two conflicting ones.
The committee said that the reason for further deliberation was because of House Bill No. 7-16-1, HD1, which was pending in the Senate since April 2005.
The committee said that after joint meetings between the House and Senate, the committee was assigned to amend the resolution and remove the creation and establishment of a Task Force.
Instead, the resolution would only request the President to seek technical assistance from World Bank, Asian Development Bank and other donor organizations to provide technical assistance to improve HB No. 7-16-1, HD1.
The committee believes that once the OEK receives the results from the comprehensive study conducted by experts in the field of petroleum and energy, they could move forward in expediting the consideration of HB No. 7-16-1, HD1.
The bill said that according to geological assessments conducted by a number of petroleum companies and research the reports indicate that potential may exist for the discovery of oil and gas reservoirs in the waters surrounding Kayangel State.