Aussie firm to start 5-well oil drilling program in PH Gindara-1...

Aussie firm to start 5-well oil drilling program in PH
Gindara-1 seen containing 1B barrels of crude

By Amy R. Remo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 22:54:00 05/16/2011

Filed Under: Oil & Gas - Upstream activities, Energy
MANILA, Philippines?Australian firm Nido Petroleum Ltd. expects to spud the Gindara-1 exploration well off northwest Palawan on May 21 as the drilling rig is expected to arrive within the week.

According to Nido Petroleum CEO JV Emmanuel de Dios, the Atwood Falcon rig would drill the Gindara-1 prospect under a Rig Assignment Agreement between Sarawak Shell Berhad/Sabah Shell Petroleum Co. Ltd. and Nido Petroleum Philippines Pty Ltd., which is operating the well on behalf of the Service Contract 54B joint venture.

The well will be drilled to a total vertical depth subsea (TVDSS) of 3,650 meters with the primary Nido limestone reservoir target at approximately 3,400 meters TVDSS.

The planned drilling is expected to give the joint venture an exposure to as much as a billion barrels ?unrisked oil in place.?

?Nido is pleased to announce that drilling of the Gindara-1 prospect is due to commence shortly as planned. Gindara-1 is the first well to be drilled in the block by the SC 54B joint venture and is also the first in Nido?s planned five-well program. We look forward to getting the drilling underway,? added Jon Pattillo, head of exploration at Nido.

Apart from the Gindara prospect, Nido Petroleum had said it wanted to drill an exploration well within the Aboabo discovery (SC 63); Balyena prospect (SC 58); Kalapato site (SC 63); and the Lawaan discovery (SC 54A) to complete its five-well drilling program.

According to Nido, the Balyena prospect alone was expected to be the most promising of the five, with oil-in-place estimates of more than 1.3 billion barrels, while the Gindara discovery is seen yielding another billion barrels of oil. The Kalapato prospect is estimated to hold 239 million barrels of oil; Aboabo, 222 million barrels; and the Lawaan, 21 million barrels.

Currently, Nido holds a 33-percent working interest in SC 54B while Shell Philippines Exploration BV has a 45-percent stake. Yilgarn Petroleum Philippines Pty Ltd., the local subsidiary of another Australian firm, Kairiki Energy, holds the remaining 22-percent interest