KNOC may strike big oil in Papua

Korean National Oil Corporation (KNOC) has discovered oil and gas in Wokam Block in Bird?s head region of West Papua province late last year and will undertake 2-well delineation drilling program this year to appraise the finding, a BPMIGAS senior official said on Thursday.

BPMIGAS Deputy Chairman in charge of planning Ahmad Lutfi told reporter that based on preliminary estimate on Bumerah-1 well test result, the field could contain up to 671 million barrels of oil. ?The figure is still very preliminary; further drilling and studies must be undertaken to confirm the estimate,? he said. He failed to say whether the estimate figure was oil in place or recoverable oil.

KNOC has 80 percent interest in the block with the remaining balance held by another Korean firm GS Holding Corp. (godang)