Otto Energy to drill 6 exploration wells off Palawan, Visayas

MANILA, Philippines—Australian firm Otto Energy Ltd. targets to drill as many as six exploration wells within three Philippine petroleum service contracts between now and 2015, noting that the country is being deemed as a “core focus area for growth” of the company.

In a report, Otto Energy bared its Palawan and Visayas exploration and development plans over the next four to five years, which would involve the drilling of two deepwater wells within Service Contract 55 off Palawan, anytime from August 2011 to August 2013.

These drilling activities will help the company tap significant oil and gas prospects within SC 55, reported to contain an estimated 1.8 trillion cubic feet of gas and 567 million barrels of oil. The company identified “Cinco” as lead drilling candidate for this service contract.

Two more exploration wells were targeted to be drilled within SC 51 (Visayan Basin), between late 2012 and mid-2014. Earlier this year, Otto Energy drilled an onshore exploration well, Duhat 1, but failed to penetrate the rock formations below 250 meters of depth.

But aside from the Duhat prospect, the 332,000-hectare SC 51 houses the Argao and Bahay prospects, among nine other leads, which were all estimated to hold a combined 263 million barrels of oil.

Drilling of the mature Argao prospect alone may yield at least 100 million barrels in recoverable oil to the company. Based on the company’s previous studies, part of the Argao prospect may even have eight levels, each containing up to 300 million barrels of oil.

Otto Energy further disclosed that another two wells would be likely drilled within SC 69 from 2013 to early 2015. The recently completed 3D seismic survey over the Camotes Sea will soon allow the SC 69 consortium to identify “drillable prospects” and tap prospective structures there, estimated to contain over 700 million barrels of oil.

SC 69 currently covers an area of 5,280 square kilometers in the central Visayan Basin where the data acquired from the successful 2D seismic campaign last year confirmed the presence of two sizeable reef structures.

These structures, the Lampos and Lampos South, sit immediately adjacent to the Calamangan Trough, which was said to generate both oil and gas. Current “success case” estimates of oil initially in place in the combined structures range between 22 million and 713 million barrels, with a mean in place volume of 290 million barrels.

The Lampos and Lampos South prospects were said to indicate seismic character consistent with the development of carbonate reef complexes analogues to those that host the Malampaya oil and gas field.

The $4.5-billion Malampaya power project is currently the Philippines’ largest gas development and provides around 40 percent of the power requirements of Luzon, roughly equivalent to 2,700 megawatts.