DOE sees more oil drillings this year

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Energy (DOE) said it expects oil exploration firms to conduct more drilling activities this year.

DOE Assistant Secretary Ramon Oca said for the first semester of 2011 alone, two wells are expected to be explored, one in northwest Palawan and the other in northwest Leyte.

“Drilling for the first semester is projected at two wells, – Gindara for Nido Petroleum and Duhat for NorAsian,” Oca said.

This year, he said at least four more exploration wells may be drilled for oil and gas.

The Gindara consortium, led by Shell Philippines Exploration B.V., (Spex) a subsidiary of the Royal Dutch Shell Group, has recently taken 45 percent interest in Service Contract 54 B in Northwest Palawan. The other consortium members are Nido Petroleum Ltd. with 33 percent and Yilgarn Petroleum Philippines Pty Ltd. (Kairiki Energy Ltd), 22 percent.

Australia-based Nido Petroleum, on the other hand, earlier said Shell’s entry would allow the consortium to drill the Gindara prospect within the second quarter.

The Gindara prospect lies approximately 50 kilometers immediately south of the Spex operated Malampaya gas field in SC 38, the largest discovery made in the Philippines to date and currently on production.

Meanwhile, Otto Energy Ltd., which owns NorAsian, is looking at drilling SC 51 in northwest Leyte by early March.

Earlier, Otto Energy signed a land rig contract with Desco Inc. for the drilling rig that will be used for the Duhat-1 well which is estimated to contain up to 62 million barrels of oil.

NorAsian owns 80 percent of SC 51 and is the lead operator. NorAsian’s partners in the contract area are Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Development Corp., Alcorn Gold Resources Corp. and Petro-energy Resources Corp.

SC 51 comprises two areas – onshore northwest Leyte in the north and the islands of Cebu and Bohol in the south.