A Manila independent producer has agreed to buy the Pioneer Driller semisubmersible rig for use in an exploratory drilling program off Philippines.
Cophil Exploration Corp. plans to buy the Mariner Class rig from Pioneer Drilling KS/Norges Hypotekinstitutt AS of Bergen, Nor-way. Cophil and associates will spend $7 million to reactive, reequip, and reclass the rig and tow it to the Philippines from Singapore, where it has been stacked since 1989.
Cophil will use the rig at first to drill a wildcat in 75 ft of water in Manila Bay and possibly for other drilling commitments off Philippines (OGJ, Dec. 12, 1994, p. 64). It eventually will make the rig available for contract elsewhere in Southeast Asia.
Purchase of the rig is subject to approval by the Philippines government and normal due diligence proceedings.
The Manila Bay wildcat is on a seismically defined natural gas prospect estimated to have 3,000 acres of aerial extent and 2,000 acres of vertical closure. Location is 30 km west of Manila (see map, OGJ, Feb. 7, 1994, p. 35). Cophil, operator with a 27.5% interest, plans to drill its I Manila Bay test to 11,000 ft below sea level.
Other partners in the well are Oriental Petroleum & Minerals Corp. 25%, Coplex Resources NL 22.5%, PacRim Energy Resources NL 20%, and Petrofields 5%.
Korean Ship Building & Engineering Corp. built the Pioneer Driller in 1977 for Maersk Drilling. The rig worked for 10 years off Korea and was stacked there for 2 years. The semi was dry-towed to Singapore for retrofitting and modernization in 1989 but remained idle. It can drill to 20,000 ft in water depths of 60-600 ft. With modification, the rig can work in water as deep as 1,200 ft.
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