Malacañang said the government is targeting to restart drilling operations in Palawan’s Cadlao oil field by next year to help address rising oil prices.
In a statement last Tuesday, President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. announced that the Department of Energy (DOE) has allowed Nido Petroleum Philippines Pty. Ltd., to “proceed with the site survey of their drilling locations.”
“This shows the commitment of the President to find locally sourced oil products or oil exploration projects to address rising oil prices,” Office of the Press Secretary (OPS) Officer-in-Charge Cheloy E. Velicaria-Garafi said in a press briefing.
Nido Petroleum is the Technical Operator/Operator of Service Contract 6B, which covers the Cadlao oil field in the Palawan basin.
It replaced Forum Energy Philippines Corp. as the operator of the said service contract last February after it committed to fund 100 percent of the development costs of the oil field.
The firm is expected to drill two wells during the first half of 2023 for exploration and appraisal purposes before engaging in oil production by the second half of next year.
Over 11 million oil barrels were produced from the Cadlao oil field before its operations were suspended in 1991. The government projects the Cadlao oil field still contains 5 to 6 million barrels of oil.
Aside from the Cadlao oil field, the government said it is determined to develop more indigenous sources of oil and gas through investment incentives for service contractors under Presidential Decree 87.
The DOE said it looks forward to the results of the on-site survey in the old Cadlao oil field.
While it is too early to tell if the Cadlao oil field will produce 5 to 6 million barrels of oil, the agency is hoping that this will pave the way for more investors in the country’s upstream oil and gas sector. The DOE said the site survey would involve preparatory drilling, production test, among others. These activities, the agency said, will pave the way for the drilling of two wells–one exploration and one appraisal, by the first half of 2023. With reports from Lenie Lectura