PXP Energy, partners to start Peru drilling

MANILA, Philippines — Listed upstream oil and gas firm PXP Energy Corp. and its partners plan to start drilling a well in its Peru oil prospect this month.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange yesterday, PXP Energy said the contracted Stena Forth Drillship arrived at the Port of Callao ahead of drilling the Marina-1 exploration well located in Block Z-38 Tumbes Basin.

PXP Energy’s partner Karoon Gas Australia Ltd. said the drillship would remain at the port” for one to two weeks to refuel and change the crew before continuing on to the Marina-1 well location.”

The vessel is expected to clear customs and final permits will be received in the coming weeks.

“The well is expected to spud during the last week of January 2020,” Karoon said.

Last November, Karoon signed binding agreements with Stena Drilling Ltd. and Tullow Oil Ltd. to contract the Stena Forth Drillship to drill one well to be called the Marina-1 exploration well in Block Z-38 within the first quarter.

The Marina-1 well sits in water depth of 350 meters and is targeting a gross prospective resource of 256 million barrels.

Block Z-38 sits in the heart of the Tumbes Basin, adjacent to the prolific oil producing Talara Basin which has produced 1.7 billion barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) since 1880.

Karoon Gas Australia owns 40 percent of Block Z-38 through KEI (Peru Z38) Pty Ltd. Sucursal del Peru,  UK-listed oil explorer Tullow Oil with a 35 percent interest, and Pitkin Petroleum Peru Z-38 SRL with 25 percent.

Pitkin Petroleum Peru Z-38 SRL is a wholly owned subsidiary of Pitkin Petroleum, which in turn is a 53.43 percent-owned subsidiary of PXP Energy.

PXP is an upstream oil and gas company incorporated in the Philippines whose shares are listed on the Philippine Stock Exchange.

The company directly and indirectly owns oil and gas exploration and production assets located in the Philippines, and indirectly owns an exploration asset located in offshore Peru.