NZOG to start drilling Parit Minyak-2 well this month

By Peni Pedriawan

ASX-listed New Zealand Oil & Gas through its subsidiary NZOG Asia Pty Ltd, the operator of an exploration block in Indonesia?s Central Sumatra Basin, plans to start drilling one exploratory well, Parit Minyak-2 (PM-2), around January 27.

NZOG has a 22.5 percent stake in the block. Parit Minyak-2 is the first well NZOG has been involved in drilling outside New Zealand as the company diversifies internationally while retaining a core focus on New Zealand.

Major site construction work at PM-2 was finished on 23 December. Drilling was scheduled to commence before the end of 2012 but equipment mobilization has been hampered by wet weather and other logistical factors, the company said in a statement received Monday.

The Kisaran block is located in the Barumun trough in the northern part of the Central Sumatra Basin - the most prolific oil producing basin in South East Asia. The Pant Minyak-2 well will appraise an undeveloped oil discovery made in 2006, and explore additional zones that were not present in that well.

A second well, Parit Minyak-3, is scheduled to follow with construction of the access road currently underway.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak