First cargo of Philippine Galoc oil sold to Petron

News was prepared under the information support of Online Daily Newspaper on Hellenic and international Shipping "Hellenic Shipping News".

31 Oct 2008

Operators of the Philippines' Galoc oilfield, the country's first major oilfield since the 1990s, said on Thursday they had agreed to sell its first cargo to oil refiner Petron Corp. The 300,000 barrels of crude oil, to be pegged at international prices, will be transferred from the floating production storage vessel to a tanker on Nov. 7, which will deliver the crude to Petron's refinery, Galoc Production Company said in a statement to the Philippine stock exchange.
The Galoc oilfield, off southwestern Philippines, has been producing an average 15,000 barrels per day since it came onstream on Oct. 9 after several months of delays.
The delays were costly to the operators of the oilfield as they missed this year's oil rally to above $147 a barrel. Prices have since fallen to below $70 per barrel.
The operator said the next cargo is expected in late November. Reserves at the oilfield are estimated at 10 million barrels.
Galoc Production Company, comprised of European trader Vitol with 68.6 percent stake and Australian oil firm Otto Energy with a 31.4 percent interest, is the operator of the field with a 58.29 percent share.
The remaining 41.71 percent is split between Nido Petroleum with 22.28 percent, and several Philippine partners.
Petron is the Southeast Asian nation's biggest oil refiner with a capacity of 180,000 barrels per day, and supplies nearly 40 percent of the country's fuel requirements.

Source: Reuters