RH Petrogas abandons Zircon-1 well in Salawati PSC

By Ruli Setiawan

SGX-listed RH Petrogas Limited announced on Friday that it will plug and abandon the Zircon-1 exploration well in the Salawati Kepala Burung PSC, also known as Island PSC. Zircon-1 reached its total vertical depth of 1,525 meters. The well encountered several oil shows and, after log analysis, drill stem tests (DST) were performed on four zones to confirm the presence of hydrocarbon.

Preliminary assessment of the DST results indicated that, despite oil shows, hydrocarbons were not recovered in the well. The Company and its partners will conduct post mortem analysis of the well to further evaluate the Zircon structure,? the firm said in a statement.

The well will be plugged and abandoned (P&A) in accordance with the drilling program. After the P&A operation of Zircon-1, the Bohai-8 drilling rig will be moved to Koi-2 appraisal well?s location to appraise Koi-1, an earlier discovery which tested 980 barrels of oil per day (bopd) and 2.70 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd) of gas in 2000. ?We are optimistic about the potential for the Koi structure which can potentially be developed on a stand-alone basis if commercial quantities of oil can be confirmed.

There are numerous other analogous prospects identified in the 3D area offshore Island PSC and the Company will continue to evaluate them to identify potential drilling targets in the future,? Francis Chang, Vice President Exploration and Production, said in a statement.

The company through its wholly owned subsidiaries Petrogas (Island) Ltd. and RHP Salawati Island B.V. has an aggregate 33.21 percent working interest in the Island PSC. The other partners in the Island PSC are PetroChina International Kepala Burung Ltd. (16.79 percent) and PT Pertamina Hulu Energi Salawati (50 percent). The Island PSC is operated by JOB Pertamina-PetroChina Salawati, which is a joint operating body formed between Pertamina and PetroChina.

Editing by Johannes Simbolon