MANILA, Philippines - Galoc Production Corp. (GPC) continues to sell a portion of its oil production to Petron Corp. as it has delivered its third shipment to the country’s largest oil firm.
According to industry sources, Galoc has produced more than four million barrels of oil since October 2008.
“The last two cargoes were sold to South Korea and before that was sold to Petron,” the sources said.
Australian oil exploration firm Nido Petroleum Ltd. earlier reported that production at the Galoc oil field in northwest Palawan increased 37 percent in the last quarter of 2009.
In a report, Nido said in the fourth quarter last year, production at the oil field totaled 747,757 barrels from 547,223 barrels in 2008. Average daily production from the field stood at 8,128 barrels.
Nido president and CEO Jose Victor A. de Dios, said since the start of Galoc’s operations in October 2008, the field has now produced 3.58 million barrels of oil.
“The Galoc consortium began consideration of available options to improve the production profile of the field, including a possible upgrade to the FPSO (floating, production, storage and offloading vessel),” De Dios said.
Nido currently holds 22.88-percent interest in Galoc. GPC, the field’s lead operator with 59.84 percent, is co-owned by European trade Vitol Group with 68.6 percent and Otto Energy Ltd. with 31.4 percent.
Other members of the consortium are Oriental Petroleum & Minerals Corp./Linapacan Oil as & Power Corp., with 7.79 percent; Philodrill Corp., with 7.21 percent, and Forum Energy Philippines Corp., with 2.28 percent.
The Galoc oil field is estimated to contain 10 million barrels of oil and produces between 12,000 and 14,000 barrels per day from two sub-sea wells.
The second phase of the Galoc field development, which involves the drilling of two additional wells, has yet to start. The second stage of the development is expected to tap an additional reserve of five million barrels and add around 4,000 barrels to the field’s daily production.
“The Galoc joint venture continues to assess further facility and subsurface development options for Phase 2 of the Galoc oil field development,” Nido said.
“In support of this work, Nido is continuing its independent review of the developed reserves, undeveloped reserves and many other remaining potential in the field,” the company said.