Cooper plans S. Sumatra drilling campaign, seeks farm out partner

By Alexander Ginting

ASX-listed oil and gas firm Cooper Energy Limited plans to drill several wells on its blocks onshore South Sumatra in 2014.

According to the company?s annual report released on Friday, it will drill three development wells at Sukananti KSO. Sukananti is a small old oil field where earlier this year the company has been successful in re-establishing production from the well which had been shut down since 1996.

Cooper also plans to drill at least one exploration well in Sumbagsel PSC in 2014.

According to Cooper, the block contains a wide inventory of both shallow oil and deeper gas prospects and leads. All seismic in the PSC was reinterpreted during FY13 and, as a result, the prospects and leads inventory was substantially upgraded.

Acquisition of 265 km of 2D seismic will be undertaken in FY14, which is expected to lead to the drilling of at least one exploration well in the 2014 calendar year, it said.

Cooper has 100 percent interest in Sumbagsel PSC.

Meanwhile, the company also reported that it was seeking for farm-out partner for its newly awarded Merangin III block. The block is immediately adjacent to the Suban Field, which has reported Original Gas in Place in excess of 6 TCF.

?In accordance with prudent risk management, Cooper Energy will consider a farm-out of a portion of its interest prior to any significant capital expenditure. The committed work program for the Merangin III PSC consists of seismic acquisition and one well at a total cost of US$9.7 million over the initial 3 years,? the company said.

Cooper has 100 percent interest in Merangin III PSC.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak