AN Ayala-led petroleum exploration unit is currently assessing two potential areas for oil drilling in West Palawan.

In the online annual stockholders meeting of ACE Enexor Inc. on Monday, the company said that its subsidiary Palawan55 Exploration & Production Corp. is conducting evaluations for two possible oil sites.

“Palawan55 is currently conducting [a] follow-on evaluation of two candidate targets for drilling. Upon completion of the comparative assessment, the consortium will decide the prospect to be drilled,” ACE Enexor Chief Operating Officer Raymundo A. Reyes, Jr. said in the virtual meeting.

ACE Enexor Chairman Jose Eric T. Francia said they might focus on one of the two specific target sites for potential drilling by 2022 after finishing on-going studies within the year.

Mr. Reyes said the prospect-specific technical studies are expected to be finished by June. “The second half of 2020 will be spent primarily for well planning,” he added.

Recently, the Department of Energy (DoE) approved the entry of the deep-water block project led and operated by Palawan55 into an appraisal period starting April 26.

Within the first two years of this period, it committed to drill at least one deep-water well. The unit will soon submit for approval a new work program and budget for this phase.

The project under the DoE Service Contract 55 was classified as a non-associated gas discovery.

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

The ACE Enexor unit recently raised its stake in SC 55 to 75% after a co-contractor, Singapore bourse-listed Century Red Pte. Ltd., transferred its 37.5% interest share to the company as it pulled out from the project. Pryce Gases, Inc. owns the remaining quarter of interest.

Meanwhile, the company aims to execute its drilling programs throughout 2021, including permitting work, procurement of supplies and equipment, and deployment of a drilling team.

“We anticipate that the execution of the drilling program will be our focus throughout 2021,” Mr. Reyes said.

On Monday, shares in ACE Enexor rose by 5.31% to close at P6.74 each. — Adam J. Ang

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