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A CONSORTIUM led by Shell Philippines Exploration B.V.
has committed to drill a well in its petroleum exploration project
in offshore Palawan.
In a disclosure to the Philippine
Stock Exchange, David Baladad, South China Resources Inc. (SCR) vice
president for operations, said that the Service Contract (SC) 60
consortium has informed the Department of Energy of the project’s
entry into its next development phase.
“The second sub-phase will be
valid until February 10, 2010 with a commitment to drill one
well,” he said.
The SC 60 block covers a
relatively unexplored area of one million hectares in the Northeast
Palawan basin. The area is one of the promising sites for petroleum
exploration identified under the Philippine Petroleum Resource
Assessment Project Study conducted by the Norwegian Agency for
Development Cooperation.
The consortium running the
project is composed of SCR with a 15-percent stake, Kuwait Foreign
Petroleum Corp. ksc. (KUFPEC) with a 30-percent share, and Shell
Philippines Exploration B. V. (SPEX)
as operator with a 55-percent interest.
SPEX is the operator of the
Malampaya, the country’s largest natural gas field to date while
KUFPEC is a wholly owned subsidiary of state-owned Kuwait Petroleum
Corp.
SCR is a Philippine company
involved in, among others, petroleum exploration with interests in
the exploration areas located in Sulu Sea and Palawan. The company
is also pursuing interests in other areas such as the Offshore Cuyo
Platform, East Palawan and Northwest Palawan block.
The group finished conducting 3D
surveys in the exploration block in August last year, allowing it to
determine the “further need” to explore the area.
The government is banking on the
eventual oil and gas production of the service contract to lessen
the country’s dependence on expensive imported oil.
--Euan Paulo C. Añonuevo
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