Nido, on behalf of the SC 54B Joint Venture, reported the Philippine Department of Energy (DOE) has approved the Gindara-1 Drilling Program.

This approval marks another important milestone in the lead up to the drilling of the Gindara-1 Prospect.

Further, this event follows the recent announcement regarding the contracting of the Atwood Falcon deepwater semi-submersible rig to drill the well. Jon Pattillo, Head of Exploration, said, "With the DOE's approval of the drilling program now secured, the next month's activity will focus on finalizing remaining third party contracts and logistics planning. This will ensure we're confidently prepared ahead of mobilization of the rig to the Philippines.

"Through our partnership with SPEX, Nido has successfully enhanced our Manila based drilling team with a Shell drilling engineer who is highly familiar with the Atwood Falcon rig through his involvement in SPEX's 2010 Philippine drilling campaign. In addition, the Nido subsurface and operations team continues to work closely with SPEX to ensure efficient aviation and logistics support to the Gindara-1 drilling operation."

Importantly, the Atwood Falcon remains on schedule to mobilize from Labuan, Malaysia to the Gindara-1 location in the Philippines during the first half of May 2011.

Tags: Nido Petroleum Limited