CEBU, Philippines - The Australia-based oil and gas company, Gas2Grid (G2G) Ltd., revealed that it has acquired an additional A$2.032 million funding from a private equity to ensure the success of its drilling operation in the areas between Aloguinsan and Carcar City.
G2G is set to start its drilling operation within next week after it has completely assembled the company-owned Rig-2 which is a Gardner Denver 500,800 horsepower (HP) machine with capacity to drill down to 2,750 meters with 114-millimeter drill pipe or 3,660 meters with 89-mm drill pipe.
G2G chairman David Munns said that the company has already spent about US$7.0 million in exploration costs and will spend US$4-5 million more in the next phase of the work.
“If we get a little success, with the discovery of Hydrocarbons, this expenditures could increase 10 fold, which will not only be good for Cebu but for the country as a whole,” Munns said.
To get the products to market, Munns said it will be necessary to improve the infrastructure such as highways, telecommunications, schools and hospitals which can bring good for the local economy and for Cebu as a whole.
On the refurbishment of the 2 Rigs, Munns said that G2G has spent over US$250,000 which has gone directly into the local economy.
“We presently employ some 35 Philippine nationals and this will increase to about 50 once we get into full operations,” he said.
Munns thanked Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia, Carcar City Mayor Nicepuro Apura, and Alo-guinsan Mayor Augustus Caesar Moreno for helping them.
Munns cited some good reasons why G2G arrived in the Philippines and Cebu in particular.
He said that Cebu is a known oil and gas province ever since the days of the Spaniards.
Commercial risk is lower because Cebu has industries that are short of power everyday and G2G needs to do something about solving that shortage.
Filipino workers have shown the whole world their quality and dedication and G2G claimed to be blessed to be surrounded by them.
“Because of the quality of the SC44 lease, and the possible leads we have identified here in Cebu, plus the technical team we have assembled both here and in Australia, the market has shown confidence in the G2G story and has supported us,” Munns added.
The Department of Energy awarded Service Contract No. 44 on January 28, 2004 to G2G Ltd.
It has completed various exploration activities, including seismic data acquisition, processing and interpretation that led to the identification and maturation of drillable prospects.
The three wells that will test these drilling prospects are Jacob-1, Gumamela-1 in Carcar City and Ilang-1 in Aloguinsan. These will have depths of 1,000 to 1,300 meters.
The company said the three prospects vary in size and hold resource potential of millions of barrels.
The Jacob-1 site is said to have a potential of 4 million to 50 million barrels recoverable oil.
Once successful, the government will get 60 percent while 40 percent of the total revenues will go to the company.
G2G Ltd is engaged in the activity of exploration of oil and gas in the Philippines. The company focuses its operations in oil and gas discovery in Cebu. —/FPL (FREEMAN)