Niko completes Jayarani-1 well in Aceh PSC

By Ruli Setiawan

Niko Resources Ltd., and its partner Zaratex N.V., announced that the drilling of Jayarani-1 well in the Lhokseumawe production sharing contract (PSC), offshore Aceh province, has reached a total depth (TD) of 11,537 feet.

The well penetrated the pre-drill geologic objectives of Oligo-Miocene Peutu and Cunda carbonates, but no commercial reservoir was encountered. The Niko Indonesia team completed this first well of a multi-well program safely, under budget and ahead of schedule, significantly improving performance in comparison to the offset wells drilled by other operators, the company said in a press statement.

Niko will now mobilize the Ocean Monarch drilling rig to the West Papua region of eastern Indonesia where it will begin drilling the Ajek-1 well in the Kofiau PSC, the first well to be drilled based on its SeaSeepTM technology, followed by the Cikar-1 well in the West Papua IV PSC and at least four other wells in the area.

Partners in the upcoming wells include Hess on Ajek-1 and Statoil on Cikar-1. The Niko Indonesia business plan has been to acquire a large number of PSCs in emerging exploration trends, use advanced technology to develop a portfolio of high impact wells, execute leveraged farm-outs, and target partners with worldwide deep water experience.

By taking a portfolio approach, Niko will benefit from economies of scale in drilling operations as well as increase the statistical likelihood of success.

A number of changes made by Niko for the Ocean Monarch have and will result in significant time and cost savings for the Company. For example, due to reductions in the weight of materials and equipment on the rig, the time required for location moves could be reduced by greater than 30 percent.

Editing by Benget Besalicto Tnb.