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AUSTRALIAN-based Nido Petroleum Corp. is looking forward
to the start of production of the wells in an oil field
in offshore
Palawan following the completion of the drilling phase of the Galoc
development.
The
Galoc oil field is located about 65 kilometers northwest
of Palawan and was discovered in 1981 by Philippine
Cities Service, which yielded oil during production
tests in the late 1980s but was never commercially
developed.
“Looking
forward, the next milestone in the development will be
the well testing planned later this month. I look
forward to flow these wells for the first time and to
the start of production in the next few months,” Joanne
William, Nido deputy managing director, said.
The Nido
official said the company is also pleased with the
results of the Galoc drilling program.
To put
it in perspective, according to William, the total
production section that has been achieved is the
equivalent of over two and a half times the total length
of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
The Nido
official said this is certainly no mean feat, and even
congratulated the Galoc Production Co., (GPC) the
operator, for its efforts and the excellent results.
Nido
also holds a 22.279-percent working interest in the
Galoc oil field, while the remaining interest is held by
GPC.
Phase 1
of the Galoc development drilling program was designed
to drill two horizontal production wells located to
access the maximum producible oil volumes from the
southern half of the field.
The
drilling program included a pilot hole to establish the
optimum drilling location for the horizontal production
sections. A total of 11,346 meters was drilled and a
5.5-inch predrilled liner was run on the Galoc 3
horizontal production section.
During
the drilling of both Galoc 3 and 4, logging while
drilling (LWD) logs were acquired. Initial petrophysical
interpretation shows reservoir parameters as good as, or
better than, anticipated in predevelopment studies.
Nido
said the drill ship Energy Searcher will remain on
location for a further three weeks to execute the
completion program, which involves the installation of
the subsea trees, well control systems and the
production tubing.
Once
this work is finalized, oil will be flowed to surface
from both wells to prepare the wells and subsea trees
for production to Galoc’s floating production storage
and offloading vessel the Rubicon Intrepid.
At the
end of the completion program, the rig will then
demobilize to Singapore and installation of the mooring
and riser system will start.
In
October last year Kay Palma, GPC country chairman, said
her company targets to have first oil production to come
in by March next year, adding that her company invested
a total of $86.4-million capital for the exploration
project that is estimated to produce 10-million barrels
of oil reserves.
She
added that GPC will shoulder 77 percent or $65 million,
and the rest is for Nido Petroleum Ltd. to explore the
Galoc field off Palawan under Service Contract 14C.
The
Department of Energy, on the other hand, noted that the
Galoc field development is expected to increase the
country’s current monthly oil production of about 17,000
barrels to about 500,000 barrels.
Palma revealed that they could even expand the production in
the event that the oil to be drilled surpasses their
projected levels.
The
Galoc oil field is expected to produce a low of 5
million barrels and high of 10 million barrels, which
can take four years to drill.
“It will
take GPC six months to a year to determine whether there
will be more reserves than what they project. But if the
Galoc oil field will produce more than 10 million
barrels, then we could possibly expand the project,”
Palma said. |
