February 27, 2024, Manila, Philippines—Prime Energy Resources Development B.V. (Prime Energy) announced the award of a contract to One Subsea (of the Schlumberger group) for the supply of Wellheads, Christmas Trees (Control Equipment), and Subsea Production System by the end of 2024. The equipment will be used for Malampaya Phase 4 to drill and tie-in two new deepwater wells in the Camago and Malampaya East fields to the Malampaya Shallow Water Platform. Drilling is planned for 2025 with the aim to deliver new gas by 2026.
Prime Energy is also set to award other major contracts (Deepwater Drilling Unit, Specialized pipeline manufacturing, Integrated Well Services, etc) subject to partner approval by UC38 LLC and PNOC Exploration Corporation in the coming weeks. On February 22, the project successfully passed an external independent review, the Estimate Schedule Analysis Review (ESAR), which concluded that the project’s schedule estimate is sound.
Prime Energy plans to drill a third well, called Bagong Pag-asa, as part of the 2025 drilling campaign, subject to partner approvals. This exploration well will determine the presence of oil and gas in a structure approximately 15 km from Malampaya, hopefully to further extend the flow of indigenous gas for the benefit of the Philippines.
A complex project of this nature has not been done for more than a decade in the Philippines, as Service Contract No. 38 has only been renewed in April 2023. With just enough time left before depletion of the current wells, and at a time when drilling projects around the world are concurrently being executed driving project costs up, the accelerated pace of execution of the Malampaya Phase 4 project is unprecedented, a feat only possible due to the capability and experience of the Prime Energy team.
Prime Energy Managing Director and General Manager, Donnabel Kuizon Cruz, reiterates the SC38 consortium’s commitment to ensure that the benefits of Malampaya continues to be enjoyed by the Filipino consumer, and its support of the Department of Energy’s drive to develop the country’s indigenous oil and gas resources. “Exploration and development of a late-life gas field like Malampaya requires extraordinary feats of engineering, which we are committed to deliver safely. We want to help ensure that Filipino consumers continue to enjoy stable and predictable electricity prices, a protection that we wish to continue offering for the long-term, para sa bayan.”
