BY EUAN PAULO C. AÑONUEVO Reporter
Burgundy Global Exploration Corporation (BGEC) and its partners have found methane gas in a petroleum exploration area in the Sulu Sea.
The discovery, based on company data, was made at an exploration well in its Service Contract (SC) 62. Seismic data acquired from the area likewise confirmed the presence of methane gas.
“The presence of multiple structures at an offshore depth of 10,000 feet established the presence of methane gas from the Sulu A-1 well,” the company said.
The extent of the reserves has yet to be determined but from seismic reports gathered, a 10 to 15 trillion cubic feet of gas is estimated in the area.
The projected reserves is well above the 3.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas at the Malampaya field, the Philippines’ largest gas producer to date.
In light of the encouraging find in SC 62, BGEC has scheduled the conduct of drilling activities before the year ends.
“Tentative drilling activities are being studied by the last quarter of 2010,” it said.
BGEC is a local exploration firm under the Burgundy group of companies with interests in oil and gas exploration blocks across the country.
Its minority partner in SC 62 is Union Fenosa Gas S.A., a company jointly owned by the Union Fenosa Group of Spain and ENI Group of Italy.
SC 62 is located in offshore East Balabac in Southwestern Sulu Sea, near oil and gas producing blocks in Sabah and Palawan.
SC 62 is also adjacent to an exploration area controlled by oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp.
The latter’s petroleum block, SC 56, also showed encouraging traces of hydrocarbons in drillings conducted late last year.
http://www.manilatimes.net/index.php/business-columns/16302-sulu-sea-yields-methane-reserves
