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By Euan Paulo C. Añonuevo, Reporter
The consortium led by Pearl Oil (Ragay) Ltd. has
commenced drilling activities in their petroleum service contract
area in Ragay Gulf in the Southeast Luzon basin.
The Department of Energy’s daily drilling
report showed that Pearl, operator of service contract (SC) 43 with
64-percent interest, has started to drill the Monte Cristo-1 well in
Barangay CamFlora, San Andres, Quezon province in the exploration
block.
Pearl is a wholly owned subsidiary of Abu
Dhabi-based Aabar Petroleum Investments Co. PJSC, which controls
several oil fields in Indonesia and Thailand.
Based on pre-drilling estimates, the Monte
Cristo prospect within SC 43 has a potential oil reserve of 20
million barrels.
The DOE report said the SC 42 consortium has
contracted the MB Century Rig 14 from Indonesia to spud the said oil
well.
It added that Pearl was able to drill the Monte
Cristo well to a depth of 56 meters. The target depth of the well is
2,399 meters.
SC 43 covers over 2 million acres of the
Southeast Luzon Basin, which the DOE considers as second only to the
Northwest Palawan basin in terms of harnessing hydrocarbon. Overall,
152 kilometers of 2D seismic data were gathered in the area in 2005.
Pearl’s partners in the oil and gas
exploration block are Premiere Oil Philippines B.V. with 21-percent
stake and state-owned Philippine National Oil Co.-Exploration Corp.
with 15-percent interest.
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