Spex, partners start drilling for oil in offshore Palawan

Shell Philippines Exploration BV (Spex) and its partners in the Silangan prospects have started exploratory drilling for oil and gas in offshore northeast Palawan. South China Resources Inc., which owns a 15-percent stake in service contract (SC) 60, told the Philippine Stocks Exchange Wednesday that the consortium has started exploratory drilling Tuesday night. Spex holds 55 percent stake in SC 60 and Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Co., 30 percent. In announcing that the spud-in of SC 60 commitment well was made, the consortium told the stock exchange that the oil field "is deemed to have significant hydrocarbon accumulations." For SC 60, the consortium is using the semi-submersible drill rig Atwood Falcon – the same rig Spex used for the Comago-2 well in northwest Palawan. Spex, South China Resources, and Kuwait Petroleum committed a minimum investment of $24 million for the seven-year exploration period. The consortium believes that SC 60, which covers around one million hectares of northeast Palawan, is one of the country's most promising areas in terms of potential for large accumulations of hydrocarbon petroleum. —JE/VS, GMANews.TV