Granby Oil & Gas, the oil and gas exploration and production company with interests in the UK North Sea and the Philippines, announces that Galoc Production Company W.L.L ('GPC'), operator of the Galoc oil field, has commenced drilling operations on the US$86 million Galoc Oil Field development offshore NW Palawan in the Republic of the Philippines. Granby has a 9.14% indirect interest in the Galoc field through its 15.69% shareholding in GPC.
The field is located approximately 60 km North West of Palawan Island and was discovered in 1981 at a depth of approximately 2,100m below sea level. The turbidite sandstone reservoir produced nearly 400,000 barrels of sweet 35° API oil during a long term test in 1988.
Two new deviated wells, Galoc-3 and Galoc-4, will be drilled from a single wellhead cluster location in approximately 290m of water. Horizontal reservoir penetration of 1,600m is planned, but actual well lengths will be dependent on the quality of reservoir intersected. A pilot hole will be drilled at the heel of the Galoc-4 well for field appraisal purposes. The Galoc wells will be 'batch' drilled with the top hole sections for both development wells being drilled before drilling the pilot and horizontal sections.
The subsea wells will be connected to the Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel 'Rubicon Intrepid' via a seabed pipeline and mid-water riser system. The vessel is scheduled to arrive on site in February 2008 and first oil is expected shortly afterwards.
David Grassick, Managing Director of Granby Oil & Gas, said:
"We are very pleased that drilling has now commenced on the field and that the project is making such good progress."
Bob Moore, Commercial Director of Granby Oil and Gas, said:
"Granby has been instrumental in the development of the Galoc Field which was previously a moribund discovery which has now commenced offshore operations and has first oil scheduled for Q1 2008. We are also very pleased with the excellent work done by the GPC project management team based in Singapore which is operator of the development."