Nido Petroleum Philippines Pty. Ltd. is looking at oil production of 20,000 to 25,000 barrels a day from the Cadlao oilfield off northwest Palawan by 2024 or upon declaration of commerciality by the Department of Energy.
“As part of its service contract commitment to the DOE, Philodrill Corp. and Nido Petroleum are planning to conduct exploration activities within the SC [Service Contract] 6B block in the first or second quarter of 2023 to determine the oil field’s potential for commercial oil production,” Nido Petroleum said in a report to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources
Nido Petroleum said the SC 6B consortium was planning to conduct exploration activities including a site survey, geotechnical survey, exploration and appraisal drilling and extended well test.
Nido Petroleum is the technical operator of SC 6B responsible for the implementation and supervision of the environmental impact assessment study, the application for a certificate of non-coverage and environmental compliance certificate with the DENR.
It will also secure the strategic environment planning clearance from the Palawan Council for Sustainable Development.
SC 6B is located southeast of the Malampaya gas field and southwest of the Galoc oil and gas field. It covers 533 square kilometers at water depths of 20 to 90 km.
“Nido Petroleum’s asset portfolio is the pursuit of smaller, lower-risk pinnacle reef plays in the shallower waters of SC 6B. Each target well in the shallow water portion of SC 6B is estimated to hold two to 20 million barrels of oil,” the company said.
Exploration prospects in SC 6B include Bonita Field discovered in 1989 which produced around 765 to 2,107 barrels a day during testing, the Cadlao field which was explored for oil and gas in the 1970s and commenced commercial production on Aug. 25, 1981 (Cadlao-1 and Cadlao-3 wells) at 11.1 million barrels of oil over ten years and East Cadlao which will be a good prospect that could be developed and tied back to the Cadlao field production facilities.
The company said the estimated capital expenditure for the development of three to four wells in the Cadlao field would be $8 million per well.
The planned drilling activities will involve the installation of a rig about 600 meters south of the Cadlao-1A location at a water depth of about 18 meters. A floating, storage and offloading unit will be moored about 600 meters away from the rig location.
Phase 1 will involve the extended well test, with one well using a mobile offshore production unit and FSO unit.
The estimated oil production capacity under phase 1 is 20,000 barrels of oil a day while the estimated liquid capacity is 30,000 barrels of fluid per day.
Phase 2 will involve an additional 1 to 3 wells with the possibility of changing the MOPU for a small wellhead pressure and storage barge with lower operating cost.
Oil capacity is estimated at 25,000 barrels of oil per day, while liquid capacity is estimated at 50,000 barrels, with production restart estimated to commence in the first quarter of 2024.
“Oil production will commence as soon as the declaration of commerciality is approved by the DOE,” Nido Petroleum said.
The project will support the Philippine Energy Plan 2020-2040 which calls for the resumption of indigenous oil and gas exploration activities in offshore northwest Palawan to achieve energy independence.
The goal of the PEP is to drill at least seven oil prospects and six gas fields within the 20-year planning period to increase the oil reserves before the end of 2040.