ACE Enexor unit to start drilling well in West Palawan

PAlawan 55 Exploration & Production Corp. (Palawan55), a subsidiary of ACE Enexor Inc., will soon drill a well in offshore west Palawan.

listed-firm ACE Enexor, formerly Phima Petroleum and Geothermal Inc., said Palawan55 has received a letter from the Department of Energy (DOE) confirming the entry of Service Contract no. 55 (SC 55) into the Appraisal Period effective April 26.

SC 55 is a deep-water block located in the southwest Palawan Basin, covering an area of 9,880 sq km. The SC 55 Consortium is composed of Palawan55 (75 percent) and Pryce Gases Inc. (25 percent), with Palawan55 as the operator.

In the said letter, the DOE stated that after the review and evaluation of the Hawkeye discovery report, “we hereby confirm that the Hawkeye-1 well did encounter a significant volume of movable natural gas and is deemed to be a non-associated Gas Discovery under Section 13.02 of SC 55.”

Palawan55 will submit for DOE’S approval a definitive Appraisal work Program and Budget, which shall include a firm drilling commitment of at least one well within the first two years of the Appraisal Period.

In 2015, the SC 55 Consortium drilled the Hawkeye-1 well up to 9,580 feet (2,920 meters) at a cost of $23.5 million. The well revealed natural gas at the crest of the target structure, but the estimated volume of the accumulation was deemed by the then operator to be non-commercial on a standalone basis.

Palawan55 is currently undertaking quantitative interpretation of over 1,000 sq km of recently reprocessed 3D seismic data over the greater Hawkeye area and a large carbonate reef prospect.