Galoc resumes oil production

MANILA, Philippines - Galoc Production Corp. (GPC) reported yesterday that it has started to flow 15,000 barrels per day of oil in its Service Contract (SC) 14C in Northwest Palawan.

Oil production in the drilling area was temporarily halted last year due to a series of weather disturbances.

Energy Undersecretary Ramon Oca welcomed the resumption of the oil drilling activities of GPC. 

“Hopefully, this latest development will encourage other companies to continue and move forward with their exploration programs,” he said.

GPC will sell the next oil shipment once oil at the floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel reaches 300,000 barrels. 

Since October last year, GPC had sold nearly 800,000 barrels of oil from the Galoc field.

Local refiner Petron Corp. had purchased the field’s first shipment of 300,000 barrels while other output were exported to Thailand, South Korea and Japan.

“During the shutdown, extensive work was undertaken on both re-instating the FPSO Contractor’s Mooring and Riser System and implementation of enhancements to ensure improved future performance and station-keeping,” GPC said. 

According to the company, it is optimistic that the enhancements implemented on the oil drilling facility will allow it to push through with the operations and at the same time, enable a safe and reliable disconnection in the event of adverse weather.

To further improve production, GPC said it is closely coordinating with Rubicon Offshore International – the FPSO contractor – for other potential enhancements at the Galoc field.

The Galoc field is located in 290 meters of water approximately 65 kilometers northwest of Palawan. It is estimated to contain 10 million barrels of oil reserves.

GPC is jointly owned by a subsidiary of Switzerland’s Vitol Group and Australia’s Otto Energy Ltd. GPC’s partners in SC 14 are Nido Petroleum, Oriental Petroleum and Minerals Corp., The Philodrill Corp., Forum Energy Philippines Corp., Alcorn Gold Resources Corp. and PetroEnergy Resources Corp.    – Donnabelle Gatdula