Nido Petroleum News

Keppel FELS Limited, a subsidiary of Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd (Keppel O&M), has secured a contract from UMW Drilling 8 Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of UMW Oil & Gas Corporation Sdn. Bhd., for a KFELS B Class jackup rig worth $218 million (USD). It will be the third KFELS B Class jackup rig for UMW Oil & Gas and is scheduled for delivery in 3Q 2015. The first jackup - UMW NAGA 4 - was delivered in February 2013 and the second - UMW NAGA 5 - is expected to be completed by 2Q 2014.

The Department of Energy (DOE) awarded anew nine new service contracts for oil and gas development. The DOE has processed nine petroleum exploration areas which were bid out in the last Philippine Energy Contracting Round that closed last May. The DOE awarded the contracts for these exploration blocs last September, barring any hitches on the part of investors. Most of the awardees are local companies with foreign partners. The contract areas covered a total of 71,357.30 square kilometers located within the prospective basins of East Palawan and Mindoro-Cuyo; and in the promising basins of Cagayan, Central Luzon, Visayas and Agusan-Davao. The service contract areas will generate a conservative $180m in revenues for the country, as a single drilling for an offshore well costs about $20m.