Philodrill gets OK to hike interest in Galoc oil field

MANILA, Philippines — Listed Philodrill Corp. has raised its participating interest in Service Contract (SC) 14C1 or the Galoc block after securing approval from the Department of Energy (DOE).

Philodrill, in a stock exchange filing, said the DOE has approved the withdrawal of Galoc Production Co. 2 (Kufpec) in SC 14C1.

The DOE, likewise, approved the revised participating interests for SC 14C1, which is now at 10.18 percent for Philodrill from its previous 7.21 percent.

The increase is the result of the pro rata assignment by Kufpec of its withdrawn interest in SC 14C1.

Kufpec in September 2020 announced its withdrawal from the Galoc consortium. It held a working interest of 26.84 percent prior to its departure.

Kufpec’s participating interest was reallocated to the other SC 14C1 members such as Philodrill, Nido Petroleum Galoc (NPG) Pty. Ltd., and Forum Energy Phils. Corp.

NPG is the operator SC 14C1 with a 78.83 percent participating interest.

The Galoc oil field is the country’s largest oil producing oil field offshore northwest Palawan.

Production in the Galoc oil field was supposed to stop in September 2020 after Rubicon Offshore International, its floating production storage and offloading service provider, issued a termination notice in March of the same year.

The production halt, however, did not materialize after a new strategy was developed to continue production operations in the Galoc oil field.

Philodrill’s active petroleum projects cover production and exploration areas in offshore Palawan and onshore Mindanao under various service contracts with the DOE.

The DOE in May last year formally approved the company’s surrender of SC No. 14 (Nido, Matinloc, and North Matinloc Blocks).

Philodrill also holds minority interests in Atlas Consolidated Mining & Development Corp. and United Paragon Mining Corp.