By MYRNA M. VELASCO
March 3, 2010, 6:44pm
After the drilling of the second well which it undertook January this year, multinational oil giant subsidiary ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Philippines B.V. will now move to evaluation and analysis of the hydrocarbon potential at its Sulu oil/gas prospect.
The American oil firm has reported to the Department of Energy (DoE) the completion of the Banduria -1 well drilling, which hit a total depth of 4,370 meters or 13,534 feet.
This is the second well it committed under Service Contract 56. The first drilling, completed in December last year, was at Dabakan-1 block.
“With the completion of Banduria-1 drilling, ExxonMobil has fulfilled its 4th Exploration Sub-Phase commitment under SC-56,” the energy department noted in a press statement.
The announcement on the completion of Exxon Mobil’s drilling came as some sort of respite for beleaguered Energy Secretary Angelo T. Reyes, who has been primarily blamed for the power outages plaguing the country, due to his department’s planning failure on a very important infrastructure backbone of the country.
“The two exploration wells have given us very useful data, which will now be analyzed by ExxonMobil,” the energy chief said.
Reyes added that “additional studies are being conducted to evaluate the potential of the two wells and further appraisal plans.”
The energy department further noted that the West Aquarius drilling rig utilized by ExxonMobil for its Sulu acreage has already left the country, and been deployed for other drilling ventures elsewhere.
ExxonMobil’s co-interest holders in SC 56 are Australian oil giant BHP Billiton and Malaysian firm Mitra Energy.
At exploration phase, the DoE noted that “all risks shall be borne by contractors ExxonMobil, Mitra and BHP Billiton, at no cost to the Philippine government.”
http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/246067/exxonmobil-moves-evaluate-potential-sulu-oilgas-prospect
