A petroleum company from Israel has reported to the Department of Energy (DOE) that it has identified two potential petroleum plays with more than 20 leads within its service contract block in Palawan.
The DOE disclosed on Thursday that Ratio Petroleum, the operator of Service Contract (SC) No. 76 located on the northern side of East Palawan, made the discovery after completing the first phase of its work program in October 2020.
Energy Secretary Raphael Lottila stated that the petroleum company will conduct additional research on these leads to develop them into possibilities suitable for well drilling in order to verify the presence of oil and gas deposits in the area.
Ratio Petroleum’s SC spans 648,000 hectares and has water depths ranging from 80 to 1700 meters.
The company’s approved phased work program allows for seven years of exploration to be conducted in three phases. The acquisition of 2D seismic data began on October 17, 2018, as part of the first phase.
The second phase entails the collection of 3D seismic data to further refine the image of the area’s subsurface geology, encompassing the most promising clastic and carbonate leads. It is anticipated that this will be completed within the next two years.
For the third phase, the drilling of one (1) exploration well would commence to ascertain the presence of oil and gas in the area.
Following the conclusion of the first phase of their work program, Ratio Petroleum revealed that the sedimentary fill in the basin reaches up to more than 10 kilometers in local depocenters, which provides favorable conditions for a petroleum kitchen. Further, data from wells within and near the basin show the presence of several organic-rich intervals, of both terrestrial and marine origins.
Available seismic datasets show that the Northern East-Palawan Basin comprises a well-developed slope-to-basin channel system, which resulted in extensive accumulations of turbidite deposits interbedded with fine pelagic clastics.
In addition, isolated carbonate buildups have been interpreted within SC 76. These are located primarily above and on the margins of volcanic highs, providing a potential for large structures and excellent reservoirs.
“Ratio Petroleum’s initial work program has resulted in the identification of numerous leads that emphasize the prospectiveness of the basin. Several leads show clear anomalies, which supports the concept of the basin being gas prone. As the company is seeking a partner to participate in unlocking the basin’s potential at the early stages of exploration, this would be an opportunity for interested parties to take part in the next phase of planning and acquiring 3D seismic data, which will further define the full potential of SC 76,” Energy Undersecretary Alessandro O. Sales said.
SC 76 was awarded to Ratio Petroleum, an Israeli company, in October 2018 through the Philippine Energy Contracting Round (PECR). The PECR was established as a transparent and competitive system of awarding service or operating contracts for prospective petroleum and coal areas within the country.
The company’s projected minimum expenditure, initially valued at US$34.35 million will be used for studies, data gathering, and drilling activities over the initial seven-year contract duration.
“It is timely that we reinvigorate our petroleum exploration activities. While it is capital-intensive to carry out exploration programs, with the depletion of the Malampaya reservoir and the continuing volatility of fossil fuel prices in the past years, we need an aggressive push to explore for new oil and gas fields for the furtherance of our energy security,” Undersecretary Sales added.
Established in 1992, Ratio Petroleum has a number of large-scale operations at the Levant Basin in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of Israel, as well as offshore operations in the Republic of Malta and the Co-operative Republic of Guyana.
