DOE bares limited oil search activities this year

Only three exploration wells and one appraisal well are expected to be drilled this year, or less than half of last year’s total of 10, a Department of Energy official said.

An onshore well called SX-2, is currently being drilled by a consortium of Philippine oil firms in San Isidro town in Leyte under geophysical survey and exploration contract (GSEC) 93 which covers 1.4 million hectares. The drilling is scheduled to be completed next month. The drilling operator is Alcorn Gold Resources, which has a 46.6-percent interest.

The other GSEC 93 consortium members are TransAsia Oil and Energy Corp. 23.34 percent and PetroEnergy Resources, 20.06 percent. The consortium estimates the well contains 60 million barrels of recoverable oil.

Drilling for an onshore well is also expected in Central Luzon under GSEC 75. The oil-Filipino consortium hopes the well would prove the potential of 308 billion cubic feet of gas.

The GSEC 75 consortium members are: Vulcan Resource Industrial and Mining Corp., which has a participating stake of 33.095 percent, Anglo-Philippines (23.621 percent), Philodrill (21.453 percent); San Jose Oil (14.147 percent, Oriental Petroleum and Mineral Corp. (5.263 percent) and Basic Consolidated Corp. (2.41 percent).

The consortium has yet to decide if it will drill Victoria-3 or East San Agustin 1. State-run Philippine National Oil Co.-Exploration Corp. (PNOC-EC) is to drill a third exploratory well, Gansing-1 in the gas prone Cotabato basin in the southern island of Mindanao once the Muslim secessionist rebellion in the area abates.

PNOC-EC expects to spend P220 million ($4.4 million) to drill the well, which will be covered by GSEC-73. The firm has drilled two onshore wells, Sultan-sa Barongis (SSB) 1 and SSB-2 since 1999. The company wants to prove the presence of 60 billion cubic feet of natural gas on the field-enough to support a 60-MW power plant.

A deepwater offshore appraisal well, Malampaya 10, will be drilled off northwest Palawan island in October, the first of four planned wells in the area to determine the commerciality of the oil reserves discovered under the Malampaya gas field.

The drilling will be covered by service contract (SC) 38, concession held by a consortium led by Shell Philippines Exploration (Spex) with a 45-percent participating interest, Texaco, 45 percent and PNOC-EC, 10 percent.

Last year, 10 exploration and development well were drilled in the Philippines. The SC 38 consortium, which is developing the Malampaya gas field, scheduled for commercial operation on October, drilled six wells.

PNOC-EC drilled wildcat Fuga-1 on land in the northern province of Cagayan Valley in May 2000 under GSEC-84 but it was plugged and abandoned as dry hole.

A well, Wildebeest-1, was drilled at the Sulu Sea in the south by a consortium led by Unocal in July 2000 under SC 41, but was also plugged and abandoned as a dry hole with gas shows.

A consortium led by Forum exploration under SC 40 drilled an onshore exploration well MST-11 in the central island of Cebu in July 2000 which failed to flow hydrocarbon. – Donnabelle Gatdula