Galoc consortium to invest $188M

The consortium operating the Galoc oil field off Palawan is looking to invest as much as $188 million (roughly P8 billion) in the further development of the field within Service Contract 14C.

In a regulatory filing, field operator Otto Energy Ltd. said the Phase II development would extend the life of the Galoc oil field as the drilling of two horizontal section subsea wells would deliver 8 million barrels of additional reserves.

As of end-June this year, production at the Galoc oil field had breached the 9 million barrel mark, accounting for 62 percent of the 14.44 million barrels in projected reserves.

Otto Energy chief executive officer Gregor McNab explained that the two new wells, once drilled and completed, would be able to increase production at the Galoc field to over 12,000 barrels of oil per day from the current level of 5,600 barrels of oil per day.

Although the final investment decision for the planned Phase II development of the Galoc oil field has yet to be issued, it is, however, already “imminent,” according to McNab.

Late last year, the Galoc joint venture began the engineering design work for Phase II, which included detailed subsurface modelling of the reservoir, drilling and completion design, subsea engineering and  tie-back design for new wells as well as joint venture project financing.

Apart from these works, the acquisition of 184 kilometers of new 3D seismic data was also completed in late 2011, covering the Galoc field and adjacent Galoc North exploration prospect.