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The consortium of Australian firms Nido Petroleum Ltd. and Kairiki
Energy Ltd. has secured a drill rig for its exploration activities
in offshore Palawan.
In a statement, the joint venture partners
announced they have entered into agreements with Premier Oil Vietnam
Offshore B.V. (Premier) and WilBoss Ltd to secure the services of
the “WilBoss” jack-up drilling rig for a two-well drilling
program that will commence mid-October this year at their petroleum
service contract (SC) 54.
Premier, a unit of UK-based Premier Oil Plc, is
an oil and gas company with a number of interests in Vietnam’s
upstream industry. The company earlier contracted the drilling rig
from WilBoss Ltd., a subsidiary of Norwegian company Awilco Offshore
ASA, which has a fleet of rigs operating around the world.
Premier, on the other hand, is a leading
independent oil and gas company with producing interests in the UK,
Indonesia, Pakistan and Mauritania.
The said area is located in the North West
Palawan Basin and contains the high-frontier Gindara prospect, which
is projected to contain gas reserves in excess of 478 million
barrels of oil on a par with Malampaya, the country’s largest
natural gas field.
However, the two wells lined up to be drilled in
SC 54 will be for two shallow wells in an area that has previously
flowed oil at a rate of about 3,000 barrels of oil per day during
testing in the ’70s, Craig Gumley, Kairiki’s managing director,
said.
The agreement signed by the Nido-Kairiki joint
venture with the “Wilboss” for these drillings may be extended
for additional wells in the area.
Jon Pattillo, Nido’s exploration head, said
“WilBoss” is a newly built rig that left the shipyard in March
2008.
“It can drill in depths of up to 400 feet
which gives the joint venture both the capability and flexibility to
reach all identified drilling targets in our SC 54 shallow water
portfolio,” he added.
The company previously identified over 20
potential drilling targets in the oil and gas exploration block.
With regard to the Gindara prospect, the joint
venture said that they are currently advancing negotiations for a
semi-submersible rig to drill the site in 2009, which is located in
deeper waters of SC 54.
-- Euan Paulo C. Añonuevo
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