Nido Petroleum invests $18.4 million for Palawan exploration

MANILA, Philippines — Nido Petroleum Philippines Pty. Ltd. is spending $18.4 million for its planned oil and gas production project in Service Contract (SC) 54 in offshore northwest Palawan.

With an area of 43,515 hectares, SC 54 is located about 460 kilometers southwest of Manila and around 31.2 km west of the farthest island of the municipality of El Nido in Palawan.

The block has three discoveries, including Nido 1x1, Tindalo and Yakal. Nido Petroleum conducted an exploration and drilling program in the Tindalo and Yakal wells in 2008.

For this proposed project, the company is planning to drill Tindalo-2 well and at least one additional appraisal or exploration well, according to a document submitted to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

If successful, the wells will be put on an extended well test to assess their performance and determine their flow rate, pressure and overall productivity.

“The project aims to support the Philippine Energy Plan 2020-2040, which calls for the resumption of indigenous oil and gas exploration activities in offshore northwest Palawan to achieve energy independence,” Nido Petroleum said.

A two-day public hearing is scheduled for next month in connection with the review of the environmental impact statement of the SC 54 oil and gas production project, the DENR said.

Under the country’s energy plan, at least seven oil prospects and six gas fields are targeted to be drilled before the end of 2040 to expand oil reserves.

As such, Nido Petroleum is focused on developing the northwest Palawan basin, undertaking considerable exploration activities.

The latest initiative under the company’s asset portfolio is the pursuit of “smaller, lower-risk pinnacle reef plays” in the shallow water portion of the SC 54 block.

Each target well is estimated to hold around one to 25 million barrels of oil.

Nido Petroleum, a registered oil and gas exploration and production company in Australia and the Philippines, has a 42.4-percent working interest and operatorship over SC 54.

Its partners include Yilgarn Petroleum Philippines Pty. Ltd. (30.1 percent), TG World Corp. (12.5 percent) and Halo SC 54 B.V. (15 percent).

Aside from SC 54, the company is also the designated operator of SC 6B, covering the Cadlao oil field in northwest Palawan.