Thailand’s Department of Minerals and Fuels has asked the B8/38 license group to speed up development drilling of the Bualang offshore oil field.
Offshore staff
LONDON -- Thailand’s Department of Minerals and Fuels has asked the B8/38 license group to speed up development drilling of the Bualang offshore oil field.
The license, in the Gulf of Thailand, contains numerous other prospects. Operator Salamander Energy is preparing a drilling campaign to further develop the field and test this exploration potential.
The Ocean Sovereign jackup is on location at the Bualuang wellhead platform preparing to spud the first of six development wells. This phase of drilling should lift the field’s average daily production rate from last year’s 8,200 b/d to 11,000 b/d.
Following analysis of the field’s performance and modeling of individual wells, Salamander has revised its estimates of recoverable reserves. An independent reserves audit of Bualuang by RPS Energy has led to an increase in proved reserves (now estimated at 14.6 MMbbl), with gross proved and probable reserves estimated at 27 MMbbl.
James Menzies, CEO of Salamander, said: “As operator, we have taken a major step forward in our understanding of the asset and in our ability to predict reservoir behavior. Through continued, optimized development we plan to deliver 15,000 b/d of oil in 2013 from this field alone.”
