Aussie-led group bags Sulu Sea drilling deal

The consortium of BHP Billiton Petroleum Pty Ltd., Amerada Hess Ltd., Unocal Sulu Ltd. and Sandakan Oil II, Llc will undertake a P2.4-billion oil and gas exploration work in offshore Sulu Sea.

This after the Department of Energy (DOE) awarded the consortium a petroleum service contract as part of the first Petroleum Contracting Round (PCR-1).

The contract area covers 8,620 hectares in Sulu Sea, considered one of the most promising areas for oil and gas exploration based on the previous drilling activities conducted in the area.

Results of the recent Philippine Petroleum Resource Assessment Project undertaken by the Norwegian Agency for Development Corporation and the DOE also identified Sulu Sea as one of the promising sites for petroleum exploration.

The estimated resource potential of the Sulu Sea field is placed at 203 million barrels of oil.

The consortium already committed P2.41 billion for the seven-year exploration period which includes the conduct of comprehensive geological and geophysical studies and the drilling of four exploration wells.

The consortium has solid record in the upstream petroleum industry. BHP Billiton has ongoing exploration activities in Australia, United Kingdom, US, Algeria, Trinidad and Tobago and Pakistan.

Unocal, which was bought by Texas-based Chevron, on the other hand, has a local unit in the Philippines, the Philippine Geothermal Inc. Unocal also holds a big portfolio of petroleum exploration and development activities nationwide.

Since December last year when the Supreme Court affirmed the constitutionality of the 1995 Mining Law, the DOE has awarded eight petroleum exploration service contracts while five are still being processed.

The committed resources for petroleum exploration rose from P1.3 billion last year to P2.5 billion so far this year. Activities under the new petroleum service contracts generate high quality employment and would greatly increase chances of finding additional oil and gas reserves within Philippine territory.