Philodrill plans to revive oil drilling projects

Philodrill Corp. is planning to revive its three oil drilling projects including the West Linapacan oil reserves in Northwest Palawan.

Philodrill president and chief executive officer Alfredo Ramos said the company whose interests also include mining and property development, is now in deep discussions with several foreign companies that are keen on resuming exploration and drilling activities in Northwest Palawan.

"We are looking for partners that could help us defray the cost of drilling, particularly in West Linapacan which was beset by water intrusion problems then in the 1990s. There is now a new but quite expensive technology that would enable us to bring out the oil without the water," said Ramos.

Crude oil production in the West Linapacan oilfield declined further in 1995 due to water seepage problems in the productive wells that started in the latter part of 1993. The consortium drilling the oilfield decided to temporarily suspend operations in 1996.

The West Linapacan oil fields is estimated to yield 100 million barrels of oil.

Aside from West Linapacan, Philodrill is also eyeing the resumption of drilling at the Galoc and Octon oil wells, also in Northwest Palawan.

Prior to the discovery and drilling of the Camaga and Malampaya oil fields, also in Palawan Basin, West Linapacan was the primary source of local crude aside from the older Nido field which produced on a cyclical basis.

At that time, the country was producing only two percent of its crude requirements with about 95 percent of that coming from West Linapacan.