by Myrna Velasco June
18, 2016 (updated)
The Department of
Energy (DOE) has approved a two-year moratorium on a well drilling at Service
Contract 55 (SC) petroleum block in southwest Palawan.
In a disclosure to the
Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), interest-holder Trans-Asia Petroleum
Corporation (TAPET) indicated that the effective date of the drilling
moratorium had been December 23, 2015.
“During
the moratorium period, the consortium will conduct specialized geophysical
studies in the area surrounding the Hawkeye prospect which encountered gas
shows when it was drilled last year,” the company said.
TAPET has 6.82-percent
participating interest in SC 55. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Trans-Asia
Oil and Energy Development Corporation.
SC 55 operator,
Australian firm Otto Energy Investments Ltd., formally applied last year with
the energy department, for the two-year moratorium on its work program.
An exploratory well
drilling was carried out at Hawkeye 55 prospect August last year, but the
outcome failed to show potential for commercial-scale output.
The plummeting oil
prices have also been tapering off interest in fresh round of petroleum
exploration ventures.
However, the
interest-holders in SC 55 have been seeing other advantages of the “low oil
price regime”; primarily in possible lower cost of drilling rig contracts.
Beyond Hawkeye, the
other main target for drilling at SC 55 is the Cinco well together with other
prospects and leads.
As initially estimated,
the prospective recoverable petroleum reserves in the block had been placed at
89 million barrels equivalent.
The SC 55 block lies
“in the middle of a proven regional oil and gas fairway that extends from the
productive Borneo offshore region in the southwest to the offshore Philippine
production assets northwest of Palawan.”
No comments:
Post a Comment