Total, Mitra ready Sulu Sea oil drilling
By Alena Mae S. Flores | Mar. 08, 2015 at 10:30pm
Total E & P Philippines B.V., a local unit of Total E & P of France, and joint venture partner Mitra Energy Ltd. of Malaysia will conduct oil drillings in service contract 56 in South Sulu Sea in the next five years under an extended work program.
“In October of 2014 we have taken operatorship and now we are studying the development of the first well,” Fabien Colmet Daage, general manager of Total E&P Philippines said in a recent forum.
Daage said the company obtained an extension of its work program from the Energy Department until August 31, 2020.
“We have more time to access the potential of the site… You all know that the probability of not finding is higher than the probability of finding… but we are not discouraged,” the official said Daage.
Total holds a 75-percent stake in SC 56, while Mitra owns the balance.
Total acquired a 75-percent stake from Mitra, which bought it from ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Philippines B.V. (50 percent) and BHP Billiton International Exploration Pty Ltd (25 percent).
ExxonMobil withdrew its 50-percent stake in SC 56 after finding “non-commercial quantities of gas” in South Sulu Sea.
Daage said the company in the next five years had certain minimum work obligation it must comply with the government.
“Total is back.. I said Total is back because in the 70s and until the early 80s, Total was actually in exploration in the Philippines,” he said.
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