Gas2Grid receives drilling rig, gets ready to kick off 3 well drilling program on Cebu Island 

(MENAFN - ProactiveInvestors - Australia) Gas2Grid (ASX: GGX) has taken delivery of its own onshore drilling rig that is expected to spud the first of three Cebu Island, Philippines, wildcat exploration wells in August this year.

The 800 horsepower rig, which is capable of drilling wells up to 3660 metres deep, will now undergo maintenance before starting operations.

Gas2Grid had acquired the Gardner Denver 500 SCR 800 drill rig and a Brewster N2 workover rig to sidestep issues it had faced with third party drilling contractors in the Philippines.

While the cost of acquiring and refurbishing the drilling rig is expected to cost as much as engaging an external contractor to drill the three exploration wells, the move to acquire its own rig will clearly allow it to avoid the delays and cost overruns it had previously experienced.

Gas2Grid said it had its own drilling engineers and will source rig crews locally.

Approval for the Jacob-1 well has already being received from the Philippines Department of Energy while applications for the Gumamela-1 and Ilang-1 wells are currently being processed.

These wells target both the Miocene carbonate reefs and Tertiary age sandstone reservoirs trapped within anticlines. They were originally identified by the 2010 seismic survey with drilling locations finalised by a follow up seismic survey shot last year.
Meanwhile, the workover rig is currently on location undergoing an upgrade.

This rig is capable of setting surface conductor and surface casing as well as completing wells for production and conducting workovers.

It will be used for the Malolos-1 workover and testing program where it will perforate and flow test the lower oil bearing sandstone intervals at the Malolos-1 well.

This will be followed by the shallower sandstone reservoir intervals that have been interpreted as being gas bearing, based on both the cased-hole and open-hole wireline logs.

Cebu Island has been a regional producer of oil and gas since the 1970s with oil discoveries made north and adjacent of SC44.

Gas2Grid aims to find enough gas in the permit to fuel a power station located within SC44. This will then be on sold to the rest of Cebu and the Visayan region, which has a shortage of electricity.