MANILA, Philippines — The 12-month extension secured by Australian firm Nido Petroleum Pty. Ltd. will give it the leeway to pursue its commitment well drilling schedule until January 12, 2014.

This has been based on a disclosure made by local interest-holder in Service Contract 58’s West Calamian block, wherein the Philippine National Oil Company-Exploration Corporation (PNOC-EC) indicated that it approved the extension granted to block operator Nido Petroleum.

The company similarly agreed “to extend the request of Nido Petroleum to provide the notice to drill the commitment well in sub-phase 3, under the farm-in agreement not later than June 30, 2013.”

The company added that “this is consistent with the 12-month extension granted by the DoE, which was signed on December 21, 2011 to allow Nido to do additional seismic work and de-risk this deepwater block.”

Nido Petroleum entered sub-phase 3 of the Calamian block in January 2009. It was then that the company-operator asked the Department of Energy (DoE), initially for an 18-month extension of its commitment well drilling, which will supposedly end January 4, 2012.

The drilling, it noted, will enable it to undertake a comprehensive sea-bed coring and multi-beam program to mitigate exploration risks, primarily charge risks, prior to the selection of the final drilling candidate.

Sea-bed coring has been touted as a proven exploration technique that has already been employed in various parts of the world – such as in the Gulf of Mexico; West Africa and Southeast Asia.

Such technique, it was further explained, will greatly help in detecting hydrocarbon seeps on the sea floor “to confirm the presence of a working petroleum system in the sub-surface”, primarily in the absence of a well-derived data.

Seismic surveys indicate the presence of oil, but the next steps on drilling have yet to confirm if these can be developer on commercial quantity.