At present, the consortium holds Service Contract 41 for the exploration and development of the Sulu Sea area which, as proven by previous numerous tests, contain significant recoverable reserves for oil and gas.
Energy Secretary Vincent S. Perez lauded the consortium’s move to conduct drilling activities at a time of rising world oil prices.
Perez said this is the first offshore drilling for the year, with a total depth of 1,850 feet for Zebra-1 well and 935 feet for Rhino-1 well.
Initial geological and seismic tests disclosed that both wells contain about 260 million barrels of oil and another 600 billion cubic feet of gas.
"These drilling activities are very timely. The Philippine government has re-energized our exploration programs to attract exploitation of our own energy resources in times of volatile oil prices," he said.
Perez said the consortium will pour in some $14 million in investments for the drilling of the two wells.
BHP Billiton and Sandakan Oil have joined Unocal in the project, both taking a 28.1-percent interest each.
The other project stakeholders are Basic Consolidated (4.155 percent), Oriental Petroleum & Mineral Corp. (3.733 percent), Philodrill Corp. (2.322 percent), Trans-Asia Oil & Energy Development Corp. (1.161 percent), Anglo-Philippine Holdings Corp. (1.14 percent), PetroEnergy (1.011 percent), South China Resources, Inc. (0.745 percent), Philex (0.386 percent) and Universal Robina (0.34 percent).
Early this week, the DOE announced that negotiations with BHP Billiton and three other consortium members – Amerada Hess, Sandakan Oil and Unocal – for exploration activities also in the Sulu Sea area are soon to be finalized.