Woodside lines up deepwater well offshore South Korea

Jan. 15, 2015
Woodside Petroleum says it plans to drill an exploratory well this fall on the deepwater Ulleung basin block 8/6-1N offshore eastern South Korea.

Offshore staff

PERTH, Australia – Woodside Petroleum says it plans to drill an exploratory well this fall on the deepwater Ulleung basin block 8/6-1N offshore eastern South Korea.

The company has been interpreting data from the Muneo 3D seismic survey over the block.

Last November, Woodside and its partners in theNorth West Shelf (NWS) project offshore Western Australia approved the two-well 7-km (4.35-mi) subsea tieback of the Persephone field to the North Rankin complex. The project is designed to access 140 MMboe of reserves.

Total investment is estimated at around A$1.2 billion ($985 million).

Subsea installation has been completed at the A$2.5-billion ($2.05-billion)Greater Western Flank Phase 1 project, while topsides modifications continue. The project remains on budget and on schedule for start-up in early 2016, the company adds.

Front-end engineering and design started for the Greater Western Flank Phase 2 project last September. The partners are aiming for a final investment decision in the second half of this year.

As for thePluto LNG project, offshore drilling of Xena Phase 1 has been completed, and first gas is expected to be delivered to the Pluto complex later this year.

In November, the NWS partners agreed a new domestic gas commitment with the government of Western Australia. This will take the form of a variation to the NWS State Agreement, which is subject to ratification by State Parliament.

Approval will allow the partners to export an additional 86 million metric tons of LNG, and to market a quantity of domestic gas equal to 15% of the energy value of the LNG.

Offshore Cameroon, Woodside has finalized agreement to farm into the Tilapia production-sharing contract. The company and partners Noble Energy and Glencore are looking to drill the Cheetah exploratory well this year, subject to government and regulatory approvals.

01/15/2015