Site surveys in preparation ahead of drilling operations in the Philippines

Australia-based energy company Sacgasco Limited via its subsidiary Nido Petroleum is planning to conduct site surveys over acreage located offshore the Philippines ahead of drilling operations planned for next year.

Sacgasco holds its Philippines interests in its wholly-owned subsidiary, Nido Petroleum Philippines.

As informed by Sacgasco on Wednesday, Nido has signed agreements to acquire drilling site surveys over the Cadlao oilfield in Service Contract SC6B, offshore Palawan, Philippines, and the Nandino prospect in Service Contract 54 (SC 54), also offshore Palawan.

According to the company’s update, the Department of Energy and relevant authorities in the Philippines have approved the acquisition of the site surveys. The Cassandra VI survey vessel from Hurricane Geo Inspection Survey (HGIS) will conduct the geophysical site surveys. The site surveys are planned to begin in mid-November 2022.

Nido has completed fieldwork for the baseline environmental survey around the proposed drill sites and is awaiting final reports. The site surveys provide the option for drilling the wells using either the Deep Venture drillship or an alternative jack-up rig.

Nido is planning to begin drilling offshore the Philippines in early 2023. Successful drilling would allow early production of oil under a Phase One development program using an extended well test, subject to DOE approval.

Most of the Long Lead Items (LLI) including casing and wellheads for drilling Cadlao and Nandino were secured by the purchase of the drilling equipment announced in June 2022. The first three payment instalments for the LLI have been made.

Joint venture participant and farminee Blue Sky is working to have the Deep Venture DP2 drillship readied for drilling wells for Nido / Sacgasco and other operators in the Philippines. Nido is also actively seeking a jack-up drilling rig for planned Philippines drilling and production operations.

Sacgasco’s Managing Director, Gary Jeffery, commented: “It is very satisfying to see the pieces including the key team members coming together rapidly.”

Jeffery also added: “Our meetings with Government Officials, Service Contract participants, finance and banking officials in Manila strongly showed that the new government understands the challenges ahead for energy supply in the Philippines and are actively encouraging support for those companies like Nido that are willing to invest and make projects happen.”