another incredible manila standard article

Manila Standard Today we love you for all the good news you bring us ... makes nido look like a steal at these levels:

Exxon may spend $500m
by Alena Mae S. Flores

ExxonMobil Corp. may spend an estimated $500 million in its Sulu Sea oil exploration, Energy Secretary Jose Ibazeta told reporters Thursday.

Ibazeta said he expected Exxons local exploration unit, ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Philippines B.V., to invest the amount in drilling wells at deep water levels in south Sulu Sea under service contract 56, which covers the Sandakan Basin.

My estimate [is that] they will easily be putting in $500 million for their work program or just to explore. It takes a lot of money to bring up oil. That is just my estimate, he said.

SC 56 covers an area of 8,200 square kilometers and is about 900 kilometers southwest of Manila and 200 kilometers northwest of Bongao, the capital of Tawi-Tawi province. ExxonMobil is drilling a third wildcat well as part of its appraisal of the reserves of the Sandakan Basin.

ExxonMobil has drilled two wells at a cost of $100 million each. It started preparatory work for the drilling of the third well.

A government report showed that the semi-submersible West Aquarius drilling rig spudded the Palendag-1 well on June 4 but plugged and abandoned it after encountering drilling difficulties.

ExxonMobil has since moved the West Aquarius rig to a nearby location, called Palendag-1A.

West Aquarius is the same that ExxonMobil tapped in drilling the first two exploratory wells in Sulu Sea.

ExxonMobil owns 50 percent of SC 56 while partners Mitra Energy Ltd. and BHP Billiton International Exploration Pty Ltd. held 25 percent each.

ExxonMobil completed drilling of the first two wells, namely Dabakan-1 and

Banduria -1, and is processing data registered from the operations. The drilling operations in the Dabakan-1 started in October last year and were completed in December. The Banduria-1 well, meanwhile, was completed in late February.

Energy Undersecretary Ramon Oca earlier said ExxonMobil did not report a flow rate in the first two wells, adding that it would take the company a longer time to evaluate the drilling data.

He said ExxonMobils first two wells, which showed signs of hydrocarbon find, had drawn the interest of foreign oil companies in the South Sulu area.

There are many queries, especially in SCs near ExxonMobil. There are negotiations ongoing, he said.