Maverick acquires Aceh gas block

Australian firm Maverick Energy Limited has acquired Pase PSC onshore Aceh through acquisition of unlisted firm Triangle Energy Limited which owns the PSC.

Current production from the Pase field is 1.9 MMCFD, which is supplied to Arun LNG plant.

The Pase PSC was acquired by Triangle in June 2009 from ExxonMobil. The PSC was awarded to Exxon Mobil Corporation in 1981 for a period of 30 years.

The current PSC expires in February 2011 and thecompany is preparing an application for a 10 year extension to the PSC term, it said.

The Pase Field was discovered in 1983 and it consists of a fractured carbonate reservoir. Production commenced in 1998 and in 2003 ExxonMobil estimated that the field contained 498 BCF gas in place with 54% of the gas contained in fractures and 46% in the reservoir matrix. Cumulative production to date is 183 BCF. The production wells at PASE now have a high water cut which suggests that much of the fracture gas has been produced. Accordingly, ongoing production is likely to be matrix and/or attic gas, it added.

The acreage has only been explored once, for gas, to feed the Arun LNG facility. Triangle Energy has identified significant remaining potential in the Pase field through the improvement of current gas production through workovers, water handling and attic drilling. Triangle has also identified shallower bypassed gas as well as oil potential which has been neglected by Exxon Mobil.

The current production is from one well (Pase A5) at a rate of about 1.9 MMCF/D. The production is interrupted from time to time due to simple power supply problems. The Pase A6 well has been shut in since 2006 due to excess water production and insufficient disposal capacity. Due to the remote location, the intermittent production and the small contribution to the overall Arun gas supply this PSC was a low priority for ExxonMobil and divested to Triangle.(denny)