After securing Service Contract (SC) 77, SK Liguasan Oil and Gas Corporation (SKLOGC) is targeting to acquire two rigs to begin drilling inside the Cotabato Basin within six to eight months.
Based on a report by The Philippine Star, the company is securing funds worth $50 million to acquire two drill rigs to start drilling hopefully by September or October, according to SKLOGC CEO Noel Felicia. The rigs, each costing $20-25 million, will be bought in Houston, Texas.
The company decided to purchase the rigs given that SC77 covers multiple site prospects, including 12 in Sultan Kudarat and 20 in the Liguasan Marsh.
Apart from buying the rigs, Felicia said SKLOGC will hire technical experts to form its team, pointing out that each well would need 120 people. These include petroleum engineers, geologists, and mining engineers.
Meanwhile, SKLOGC chief geologist Noel Lucas said the company would commence drilling in the Gansing prospect, which would run for 40-45 days with a 24/7 operation. He added that results of seismic data of the area were promising with several challenges of high-pressured gas. For his part, Felicia said that should natural gas be found, the company will build a modular power plant.
SK Liguasan will then test the gas pressure for one year, in compliance with the Department of Energy’s (DOE) policy. A certificate of commerciality would then be submitted to the Office of the President (OP).
Based on the company’s seven-year work program, as approved by the DOE, SKLOGC is spending Php1.9 billion for the drilling of the appraisal wells.
The area also covers the 2,200-hectare Liguasan Marsh, which was excluded from the DOE’s Philippine Energy Contracting Round in 2012 since it was declared a protected area. Some 300 square kilometers of the marsh, said to be rich in gas and oil deposits, have been classified as a protected wetland and bird sanctuary.