Sacgasco acquires oil assets in Philippines
Australia’s Sacgasco has acquired BCP Energy International (BCPE), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Thai Bangchak Corporation for a nominal amount, it said on July 5. This includes BCPE’s fully owned subsidiary Nido Petroleum and interests in four Philippine service contracts (PSCs).
The cash consideration for the acquisition of BCPE and Nido is one dollar and includes all rights and obligations in the four PSCs that Nido is a party to. Nido operated two PSCs and is partner in the other two. BCPE is to be renamed Sacgasco SG, the company said.
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“The Philippines provides a very attractive fiscal environment with a pro-active and engaged regulator seeking to attract upstream investors, and to significantly increase the country’s oil and gas resources and developed reserves,” Sacgasco said.
Sacgasco’s new acreage contains six existing oil discoveries, including a shut-in oilfield with redevelopment potential, and several exploration prospects. There are no near-term commitments, and the associated administration costs are relatively low, it said.
The acreage also has low-cost gas potential, Sacgasco CEO Andrew Childs said. "The third-party owned Malampaya field infrastructure would be an excellent enabler for any gas discovery in the area."
The company said it has commenced an evaluation of the discovered oil resources in the licences with a view to realising early oil production. “Potential development concepts that will allow them to be brought to production may include plans for three currently shut-in wells in the redevelopment of the West Linapacan field and a potential parallel exploration programme,” it added.
Sacgasco said it has an interest of 22.88% in these non-operated wells and if the majority of the joint venture participants decide at some time in the future that these wells have no future utility, then they will be plugged and abandoned at a cost that will be determined based on market conditions at that time.