Galoc field back in production as supertyphoon ‘Yolanda’ passes

The Galoc oil field is back in production following a brief shutdown as supertyphoon Yolanda passed directly through its area off northeast Palawan, operator Otto Energy Ltd. said in a report released Monday.

All personnel are “safe and unharmed,” Otto Energy said.

Otto Energy reported that “Yolanda” passed the Galoc field area within Service Contract 14C on the night of Nov. 8 and early hours of Nov. 9.

“During the storm, sea states and wind speeds were the most severe ever experienced at Galoc. Production from the field was suspended as a precautionary measure on Nov. 8,” Otto Energy said.

All support vessels and crew working on the expansionary Galoc Phase II development were also evacuated from the field ahead of the anticipated passage of “Yolanda.”

Following the storm, Otto Energy said all personnel were reported “safe and unharmed.”

A thorough inspection of both the FPSO (floating production platform) and the subsea infrastructure confirmed that only minor damage had been sustained.

Final system checks have been performed and production has re-commenced, Otto Energy said.

As for the Phase II development crew and vessels, they were re-mobilized to the field progressively until Nov. 10, Otto Energy said.

Galoc is the country’s only commercially producing oil project.

Work is underway via Phase II well development to more than double Galoc’s oil output capacity to 12,000 barrels of oil per day.

A wholly owned subsidiary of Otto Energy, Galoc Production Co. W.L.L., operates the oil field with a 33-percent interest in the project consortium.

The rest of the shares are split among Galoc Production Co. No. 2 Pte Ltd (wholly owned subsidiary of Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Co.) with 26.84 percent, Nido Production (Galoc) Pty Ltd. with 22.88 percent, Oriental Petroleum & Minerals Corp. and Linapacan Oil Gas & Power Corp. with 7.79 percent, The Philodrill Corp. with 7.21 percent, and Forum Energy Philippines Corp. with 2.28 percent.