Tang Ke-Lie
Singapore
Andaman Sea leads in Thailand round interest
The 14th Thai Licensing Round is expected to be opened in the first quarter of this year. A total of 20 blocks will be offered offshore. Bid deadline will be 90 days from the opening of the round.
Interest in the round is expected to be high because of the country's attractive fiscal regime and favorable geological prospects. In addition, the booming economy makes Thailand the world's fastest growing energy-consuming country.
Much interest will be focused on the Andaman Sea acreage off the west coast of Thailand. The area is under-explored, contains large structures, and its geology is similar to that of the North Sumatra Basin, which is a prolific hydrocarbon producer, and to the Mergui Basin in Myanmar waters, where Texaco's Yetagun gas/condensate field is located.
Vietnam acquisitions and relinquishments
Canadian Occidental Vietnam was granted Block 12 (West) in the South Con Son Basin in November. The 2240 sq km block was awarded under full PSC terms for an initial five-year exploration period followed by 20 years for production. Canoxy is required to drill one well and obtain 900 km of new seismic during the first three years of the contract.
The block was formerly held under license by Pecten, Agip, and Vietsovpetro as part of the original Block 12. The block was subsequently divided into two parts in 1990 and offered for bid following Vietsovpetro's relinquishment. Thereafter, BP was awarded Block 12 (East) and PetroCanada Block 12 (West). The latter surrendered the acreage in early 1994. Canoxy plans seismic in February of this year and to drill its commitment well in the third quarter.
Meanwhile, Cairn Energy has relinquished Block 22 and Sceptre Resources Block 111. Both companies had been awarded a series of contract extensions to their original three-year exploration phase.
Bunga Kekwa-1 sets Malaysian flow record
International Petroleum Company of Dubai has announced that its Bunga Kekwa-1 wildcat in PM-3 of the Malay Basin has flowed at a prolific aggregate rate of 10,212 b/d oil (38(API) and 179 MMcf/d gas from six DSTs. The best oil flow was recorded from PST-1 at 7,000 b/d. The flows are some of the highest recorded in Malaysia.
The well was spudded on 22 October 1994 by the Hunter semisubmersible just after it had completed East Bunga Orkid-1 as an oil and gas well, located within the Vietnam-Malaysia JDA at the northern edge of the Malay Basin. Ahead of the spudding of the two well program in the block, BHP, Norcem, and Enterprise withdrew from the license leaving IPC as the only foreign participant. These companies must have felt that under Malaysia's current PSC terms, the remaining prospects in the block would probably not be commercial.
Elf's Brunei Block A to Fletcher Challenge
Fletcher Challenge has acquired Elf's interests in Block A, offshore Brunei. The 800 sq km tract will now be operated by Fletcher, which has Jasra Jackson and Pengiran as its partners. This took effect on 24 November 1994.
The block was awarded to Jasra in May 1982, with Elf farming-in in December 1986. Elf drilled a number of wells, including the Perdana-1 and Juragon-1 oil discoveries. However, both are considered non-commercial by Elf. Fletcher plans to drill one or two wells in 1995.
Oxy's Filipine Bantac-1 Asia-Pacific's deepest
Occidental has plugged and abandoned its Bantac-1 wildcat in GSEC 65, offshore Philippines, as a small oil discovery. No DSTs were conducted, however.
The well was spudded by the semisubmersible Sedco 709 in around 1,300 meters of water on 10 November 1994. Bantac-1 is the deepest water well drilled in the Asia-Pacific region to date. It reached a total depth of 2,280 meters and intersected a small oil column at the top of the Miocene Nido Limestone objective. The large reef is similar to the Malampaya structure in Shell/Occidental's SC38 to the south.
Ten companies queue up for Cambodia's Blocks 5,6, and 7
The Third Cambodian Licensing Round has so far attracted ten companies that have paid the US$5,000 registration fee, as of the 14 November 1994 deadline. Bid closing date is 30 days from the issue of the documents, which includes a report on the country's hydrocarbon potential.
A total of three offshore blocks are included in the round. Blocks 5,6, and 7. Most interest is suspected to be shown in Block 5, which lies directly north of Premier's September 1994 Kaoh Tang-1 oil and gas discovery in Block 4. It is the only block which contains are reasonable Tertiary sedimentary section. The other blocks offer pre-Tertiary targets only.
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