Galoc Production Corp. (GPC) is preparing to start the second...

Galoc Production Corp. (GPC) is preparing to start the second phase of drilling at its Service Contract (SC) 14 area in Northwest Palawan, a top consortium official said.

Paul Moore, president of Otto Energy Ltd., said the second part of the drilling program will start anytime soon and will enable them to increase the recoverable reserves from the area by five million barrels.

GPC, which owns a 58.29 percent in the SC 14 consortium, is composed of the Vitol Group (68.6 percent), an international oil company, and Australian firm Otto Energy (31.4 percent).

Other participating stakeholders in the SC 14 consortium are Nido Petroleum with 22.8 percent; Oriental Petroleum and Minerals Corp., 7.57 percent; The Philodrill Corp., 7.03 percent, UK firm Forum Energy Philippines Corp., 2.27 percent; Alcorn Gold Resources Corp., 1.53 percent; and PetroEnergy Resources Corp., 1.03 percent.

Moore said the target for Galoc is to increase 2P reserves by five million barrels and access Galoc contingent resources.

He said  two wells will likely be drilled and production for each is expected at around 4,000 barrels per day. Current production at the Galoc field is around 11,500 barrels per day.

The Galoc field is estimated to contain 10 million barrels of recoverable oil reserves.

Singapores Gaffney and Cline Associates, however, estimated the Galoc field   could contain up to 49 million barrels of oil reserves.

In October 2008, the Galoc field started producing oil and has produced and sold over three million barrels of oil to date.

Moore said preparations for the second phase of development includes seismic interpretation, well positioning, drilling costs and schedule and tie-back preparations.