PNOC-EC eyes 4 new gas prospects in Central Luzon

The Philippine National Oil Co-Exploration Corp. (PNOC-EC) is eyeing at least four more gas prospects in the Central Luzon basin after abandoning drilling activity in Victoria-3 well.

PNOC-EC external relations officer Rudolph C. Dimen said these prospects are located near the Victoria-3 well which was declared not commercially viable because the gas was fund to be saturated with water.

Dimen said the new prospects with "potential" reserves are in East San Agustin, 3.3 trillion cubic feet (TCF); San Agustin, 19 billion cubic feet (BCF); South Victoria, 113 BCF and Paniqui (297 BCF) in Tarlac.

"These are just estimates. These figures mean that the (drilling) structures can hold such potential reserves," he said.

PNOC-EC owns 15 percent of the consortium drilling for petroleum in Tarlac province, Central Luzon while the remaining 85 percent is cornered by PNOC-Energy Development Corp. (EDC).

Despite the decision to plug the Victoria 3 well, the Victoria prospect has provided consortium enough data to guide its future exploration activities in the Central Luzon basin.

The consortium is set to conduct a post-well evaluation to help determine the consortium’s next course of action.

PNOC-EC is now looking for a bigger and gas-bearing structure in the other identified prospects and leads in the basin.

Further exploration work in the area which may include a seismic survey and/or eventually another drilling activity will depend on the results of the evaluation.

PNOC-EC will finish the seismic survey in two to three months or by June this year.

The consortium started drilling the Victoria-3 well in December last year under geophysical survey and exploration contract no. 75.

The Victoria-3 well was drilled to a total depth of 9,006 feet and was the only drilling activity in Central Luzon since 1988.