Asia/Pacific

Two more for BHP in Western Australia/ZOCA

In the far north of Block WA-260P in the Bonaparte Basin, close to the border with ZOCA, BHP's Buffalo-2 delineation well was plugged and abandoned on 3 June after successfully delineating the 1996 Buffalo-1 discovery. The well tested 11,790 b/d oil and 328 MMcf/d gas from the Elang Formation. The well was spudded on 30 April1997 using Diamond Offshore's Ocean Bounty and reached a TD of 3,926 meters. Meanwhile, in ZOCA, wells recently spudded include BHP's Hingkip-1 m ZOCA 91-12 about five km north of the Bayu-Undan Field, and Mobil's Kelp Deep-1 in ZOCA 95-18.

Brunei's deepest wellunderway in Perdana Deep

Fletcher Challenge Energy Borneo's Perdana Deep-1, located in Block CD in the Baram Delta Basin, spudded on 9 April by Stena Drilling's Stena Clyde semisubmersible in 87 meters water was ongoing at the time of going to press. Gas shows had been reported from the Miocene 100 sequence but the primary objective Miocene 500 sequence proved to be devoid of hydrocarbons. A testing program is planned. The well has a PTD of 5,000 meters in Middle Miocene shales, making it the deepest offshore well in Brunei if successful, and is targeting stacked Upper Miocene turbidite sandstones.

China activities in Bohai continue successful

Kerr McGee's Caofedian (CFD) 2-1-2 delineation well in PSCA 04/36 has been abandoned as an oil well on l9 May after testing 4,100 b/d of light oil from an interval between 3,423-3,442 meters. The well had reached TD at 4,000 meters and was drilled using the Bohai -4 jackup in 10 meters of water. Subsequently, a further appraisal well has been spudded using the Bohai-4. This is Caofedian (CFD) 2-1-3, spudded on 20 May and targeting Tertiary basal barbonates and pre-Tertiary.

In PSCA 11/19 in the Bohai Bay, Texaco's Bozhong (BZ) 27-5-1 wildcat, which was spudded on 5 March by the Bohai-12 jackup, has reached a depth of 4,136 meters. The results of the logging program undertaken at this depth are currently under evaluation.

Indonesian awards point to extensive frontier development

In a signing ceremony held in Jakarta on 15 May, a total of six PSCs and one TAC covering offshore Indonesian acreage were awarded. GFB Resources (90%) and partner PI Binatek Reka Natuna were awarded the 2944 sq km Northeast Natuna PSC, located just north of Esso's Natuna D-Alpha PSC, current venue of planning for the world's largest offshore gas project. GFB Resources was also awarded the 71 sq km Aceh Timur Offshore TAC along with partner PI Indama Putera Langsa (80/20% respectively). This is located offshore North Sumatra in acreage relinquished from Mobil's NSO/NSO Extension PSC and contains two small oil discoveries, namely NS-H and NS-L.

Elsewhere, offshore Sumatra, PT Wirabuana of Indonesia was awarded the highly sought after Tanjung Jabung PSC along with partner Cue Energy of New Zealand. The block is located both on and offshore north central Sumatra.

Total has been awarded two PSCs offshore East Kalimantan. The first, the 4,982 sq km Sebawang Block I PSC, is located in the Tarakan Basin and was awarded to Total (50%) in partnership with Inpex, while farther to the south in the Kutei Basin, the same partnership was awarded the 404 sq km Saliki PSC, located at the extreme northeastern corner of the partnership's prolific Offshore Mahakam PSC.

The remaining two PSCs, Rabe PSC and Sabo PSC (originally tendered as a single entity, the Southeast Timor PSC), are located in deep water offshore south Timor and were awarded to Inpex and Japex respectively. The Indonesian government decided to open the two areas following the recent exploration successes made by companies in the adjacent ZOCA.

Impex, meanwhile, has totally relinquished its North Aceh Offshore PSC, effective 26 May, following failure to attract farm-ins to jointly explore the deepwater areas of the North Sumatra Basin. Inpex indicated last year that the economics of deepwater exploration under Indonesian terms were "still difficult to justify".

On the drilling side, Total continued with its delineation of the Northwest Peciko gas field with the completion as a gas well of Northwest Peciko-16. This appears to have been an attempt to extend the Northwest Peciko accumulation further towards the southern edge of the Tunu gas field.

Malayasia's K5-2 spudded near SK-1/SK-3

The K5-2 (RE) well (Carigali, Block SK-1 in the Central Luconia Basin), drilled after Carigali's K5-2 was plugged and abandoned as a gas well in mid-April, was spudded in mid-April using Diamond Drilling's Ocean General semisubmersible. The exact location of the well is not available but it is believed to be located in the open area close to the boundary of Blocks SK-1 and SK-3. In late May this well was reported as being sidetracked and was understood to have penetrated a large gas column but mechanical problems (stuck pipe) were encountered while drilling through the objective.

IPC continues its successes in Malaysia/Vietnam CA

IPC's latest well in its highly successful campaign in the PM-3 commercial area in the Malay Basin, Bunga Seroja-1, was spudded in 52 meters of water using Sedco's Trident XVII jackup. The well is designed to drill to 2134 meters and is targeting Miocene and Upper Pliocene channel sands, a new play previously untested in the area. These sands intersect the Bunga Kekwa structure. This well is located just five km southwest of the Bunga Raya discovery and 10 km south southeast of the Bunga Kekwa Field.

Thailand's Benchamas continues to be explored

Pogo has continued its delineation program on the Block B8/32 Benchamas Field in the Pattani Basin of the Gulf of Thailand. Benchamas 7 was plugged and abandoned as a gas well in late April after reaching a TD of 3184 meters. The rig, Sedco 601 semisubmersible, was immediately relocated to spud Benchamas 13. The well reached TD at 3,904 meters and was completed as an oil and gas well, intersecting 125 meters net gas play. Following the completion of Benchamas-13 in early May the rig relocated to drill Maliwan-1 to the south of the Benchamas Field. This well was designed to test the potential of Miocene sandstones. The well was completed as an oil and gas well in late May after reaching TD at 3,558 meters and the rig was then relocated to spud Maliwan-2.