Service Contract 47 (SC 47) was awarded by the Department of Energy on January 10, 2005 to PNOC EC and Petronas Carigali (Petronas). Upon Petronas’ withdrawal in January 2008, PNOC-EC interest became 97% with Petroenergy at 2% and the Company at 1%.
SC 47 covers originally 14,667 sq. km and is located within the Northwest Palawan Micro-Continental Block (NPMCB). The NPMCB is the only area in the Philippines where there is oil and gas and includes the Nido Oilfield, Matinloc Oilfield and the Malampaya Gasfield, all in the northwest Palawan area. SC 47 has been the site of the first significant oil discovery outside the proven petroleum province of offshore northwest Palawan. PNOC-EC drilled the Maniguin-2 well on the island of Maniguin in 1994. This well flowed sub-commercial quantities of oil and proved the existence of a valid petroleum system in the area.
In 2009, the Company along with its partners, continued exploration efforts in this service contract. The Department of Energy approved the seismic program commitment under sub-phase 2 (January 2008 to January 2010). The 2D seismic survey was carried out by CGG Veritas from August 19-29, 2009 covering a total of 1,091.6 kms at a cost of US $ 637,416.67. On August 14, 2009, the DOE approved the relinquishment of 25% of the original area of the service contract, reducing the area to 1,098,000 hectares, where the islands of Caluya, Sibay and Semirara were retained.
Previous work programs involved the processing and interpretation of the seismic data which have resulted in the identification ofsome leads and prospects and the conduct of the technical evaluation of data acquired from the seismic program. Early this year, PNOC-EC requested the Department of Energy for the approval of its proposed work program for Sub-Phase 3 to cover a period of three (3) years and which will involve a 2-year geological and geophysical work and the drilling of one exploration well on the third and final year.
