BP to start Tangguh development drilling June

Anglo-American energy giant BP Plc will drill 15 development wells at Tangguh LNG project, Papua, starting June this year in a bid to bring the LNG project to come onstream on the fourth quarter of 2008, a BP official said on Wednesday.

"Drilling rig will be shoring up in the next week and we will start drilling the first of 15 wells in early June," BP Indonesia President John C. Minge said.

Minge said that the drilling would take 18 months to complete.

Tangguh project is currently 70 percent completed, he said.

Two trains with combined capacity of 7.6MTPA would be at Tangguh. The first train would become onstream in the fourth quarter of 2008, followed by another in the following quarter, he said.

Minge said that the plan to build the third train at Tangguh is still at evaluation stage, and priority would be given to complete development of the first two trains. (godang)