PHE completes drilling of Melucut-001 shale well

By Bernard Loebs

PT Pertamina Hulu Energi (PHE) through subsidiary PT Perta?mina Hulu Energi Migas Non Kon?vensional Sumatera Utara (PHE MNK Sumut) completed at the end of last year drilling of the Melucut-001 shale well, at Sumbagut non-conventional PSC in North Sumatra Province, to obtain core samples (coring) in a bid to prove the shale gas resources.

PHE President Director Gunung Sardjono told Petromindo.com on Tuesday that the next step would include logging, perforating, hydraulic fracturing and well testing to be implemented in the first quarter of this year. ?We?re proud to be the pioneer of shale gas exploration in Indonesia,? he said.

He said that PHE is cooperating with PT Pertamina EP (PEP) under a joint operation mechanism in the drilling program. The objective of the PEP drilling is conventional hydrocarbon, while the objective of the PHE drilling is to obtain core data of tight rocks interval believed to have potential as unconventional target.

The block is 100 percent owned by PHE.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak