info25 Apr 2012 23:31
MANILA (Dow Jones)--Philex Petroleum Corp. (PXP.PH) said Wednesday the latest seismic survey on its offshore prospects in the Recto Bank in southern Philippines indicate prospective resources of at least 4.666 trillion cubic feet of gas.
Philex Petroleum told the Philippine Stock Exchange that Forum Energy Plc (FEP.LN), its London-listed unit that leads the exploration of the Sampaguita gas field, has noted that interpretation by Weatherford Petroleum Consultants on data collected during last year's seismic survey showed the prospective resources could reach as high as 16.612 trillion cubic feet for natural gas and 416 million barrels for oil. This includes estimates for the North Bank prospect, it said.
Forum Energy noted that contingent resource in Sampaguita gas field alone is as high as 4.598 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 115 million barrels of oil.
Contingent resources are those quantities of petroleum estimated to be potentially recoverable from known accumulations but the applied projects aren't yet considered mature enough for commercial development, while prospective resources are those that are potentially recoverable from undiscovered accumulations by application of future development projects.
Forum Energy, which owns 70% of the drilling consortium, is hopeful the increase in the amount of resources will win the support of its shareholders for a plan to drill within the year a well in the Sampaguita gas field in the disputed Recto Bank, Philex Petroleum said. The plan is expected to cost around $75 million.
Recto Bank, located in the country's southern waters, is also known as Reed Bank, and is disputed by China. In February last year, two Chinese vessels blocked a Philippine ship conducting seismic surveys for Forum Energy.
Philex Mining Corp. (PX.PH) is the controlling shareholder of Philex Petroleum.
Previous 3D seismic data from sands at Recto Bank indicated a mean volume of 3.4 trillion cubic feet of gas in place, which makes it potentially larger than reserves at Malampaya natural gas field--at 2.7 trillion cubic feet--which currently fuels three power plants with a combined capacity of 2,700 megawatts.