Asia / Pacific

Major awards in Western Australia

Latest awards off Western Austrailia. [16,971 bytes] It has been announced that eight new contracts have recently been awarded in Western Australia offshore areas, with two in the Browse Basin, five in the Carnarvon Basin, and one in the Perth Basin. However, these awards have yet to be finalized and need government approval. The two Browse Basin contracts, W96-4 and W96-5, were awarded to a consortium led by Shell Development Australia, while in the Carnarvon Basin W96-11 was awarded to Mobil and Texaco, W96-13 to Hardy Petroleum, W96-14 to Wapet, and W96-20 and W96-21 to Woodside. In the Perth Basin, West Oil was awarded W96-22.

Shell and Cairn in Bangladesh

Cain's Bangladesh blocks. [27,534 bytes] On 1 May, it was announced that Shell and Cairn Energy had finalized details of their strategic alliance covering Bangladesh, in particular on/offshore Blocks 15 and 16, currently held by Cairn. This involves Shell operating any developments, including Sangu gasfield in Block 16.

The Sangu Field is currently undergoing delineation by Cairn. The current drilling program is designed to test the hydrocarbon potential of Pliocene sandstones which were gas bearing in the first two Sangu wells. Sangu-3 was spudded in late March using Momentum Engineering's Orizont jackup in eight meters of water. By the end of April, the well had reached an undisclosed TD, prognosed TD being 3505 meters, and testing was in progress. Sangu-4 is currently being drilled as a deviated well from the same surface location as Sangu-3.

Extensive Brunei drilling in Baram Basin

In Offshore Agreement Area 1 in the Baram Delta Basin, Brunei Shell Petroleum (BSP) spudded Kenari-1 on 16 February. The well was drilled using the Trident XII jackup in 31 meters of water, and reached a TD of 2560 meters on 26 March. It was located five km east of the Champion East Field and was presumed to be targeting Pliocene and Miocene sandstones. Subsequently BSP announced that the well was a sub-commercial gas discovery.

Fletcher Challenge Petroleum's Perdana Deep-1, located in Block CD in the Baram Delta Basin, was spudded on 9 April by Stena Drilling's Stena Clyde semi in 87 meters of water and is currently drilling ahead. The well has a PTD of 5000 meters in Middle Miocene shales, making it the deepest offshore well in Brunei if successful, and is targeting stacked Upper Miocene turbidite sandstones.

Myanmar farm-ins in Martaban

Arco and Total in Myanmar. [11,875 bytes] Thai state company PTT is set to take a 14.1667% stake in Texaco's Blocks M-12, M-13, and M-14 in the Martaban Basin following the signing on 13 March of the gas purchase contract for gas from the Yetagun Field between the governments of Thailand and Myanmar.

Following the abandonment of the Shwe Pyi Htay-1 gas discovery, Arco moved the Energy Searcher drillship 35 km north northwest to spud wildcat Shwe Pyi Aye-1 on 12 April. The well has a PTD of 3200 meters and its primary target is Miocene clastics which were the objective of Shwe Pyi Htay-1.

Chinese activity ongoing in Bohai

Kerr-McGee's ongoing delineation well Caofedian (CFD) 2-1-2 in PSCA 04/36 has tested 4100 b/d light oil from an interval between 3423-3442 meters. The well reached TD at 4000 meters and commenced testing in mid-March.

In PSCA 11/19 in the Bohai Gulf, Texaco's Bozhong (BZ) 27-5-1 wildcat, which was spudded on 5 March, has reached a depth of 4136 meters where logs are currently being run.

Kerr-McGee's wildcat Laohai-1 in the Laopu PSCA is now logging at a depth of 1600 meters prior to running 13 3/8-inch casing. The well was spudded on 26 April using the Shengli 3 drilling barge.

Indonesian discoveries up for Arco and Clyde

Gulf Indonesia Resources, a newly formed entity designed to take over Asamera's Indonesian operating units, has farmed into the recently awarded Pangkah PSC, located in the East Java Sea. The company will assume a 12% equity from Seafield Resources, carrying that company through the initial seismic and two-well exploratory drilling program.

Clyde Petroleum's Nelayan-1, located in the Kakap PSC in the West Natuna Sea, was completed as an oil discovery on 30 April at a TD of 3364 meters. It was tied in for immediate production after intersecting eight productive sandstones over a 70 meter net pay interval. The well was drilled using PT Hitek Nusantara's Sedco Trident 17 jackup in 87.5 meters of water.

Arco successfully completed PSI BN-4. The appraisal well was temporarily abandoned as an oil and gas well on 4 April. The exact date of the completion has not been made available. The well was spudded on 1 March and was drilled to a TD of 1653 meters with the objective of testing the Middle Miocene Main Formation sandstones. Subsequent tests resulted in a combined flow of 913 b/d oil and 264,000 cf/d gas from two DSTs. The well was drilled in 45 meters of water using Supraco's Santa Fe 143 rig.

Arco's Vorwata-2, spudded on 14 February, is believed to have been suspended as a gas well on 4 May at a TD of 4074 meters. This was an ambitious step-out from the discovery well, being located approximately 17 km southwest of Vorwata-1, off Irian Jaya. The well was drilled by PT Patra Drilling's Deep Sea Ice drillship in 45 meters water.