Gas2Grid advise that Gumamela-1 was spudded at 12:30 pm Cebu time (15:30 Sydney time 15:30) on Sunday 16 December 2012. At 16:32 Cebu time (19:32 Sydney time) yesterday, drilling of 12-1/4" hole for 9-5/8" casing was at 189 feet or 57.62 metres. Drilling will continue non-stop through the Christmas holidays with the crew on site 24/7. The well is programmed to be drilled to a total depth of between 1,000 -1,300 metres and it is anticipated that it will take 25 days to drill.

Gumamela-1, the second well in the current 3 well exploration program, is being drilled using the company owned Rig-2 and is located approximately 3 kilometres south of the first well and recently drilled Jacob-1. Gumamela-1 is designed to test a Miocene age, Cebu Limestone, pinnacle reef with a secondary target in the overlying draped sandstone reservoirs of the Malubog and Toledo Formations. Gumamela-1 has an estimated 15 million barrels of recoverable oil potential.

The tight nature of the limestone reservoir encountered in Jacob-1 does not necessarily translate to the Gumamela reef which is located some 3 kilometres away from the Jacob-1 reef and in a different basin position. Gumamela-1 also has good prospects for the sandstone reservoirs that will likely be present in the section overlying the limestone reef target. The same sandstones are oil and gas bearing in Malolos-1 and in the nearby Toledo and Alegria oil fields.

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