Sampang partnership to drill well to examine discovery potentiality

Australian oil, gas firm Cue Energy said on Friday that Wotel-3 well in Sampang PSC offshore East Java will be drilled by the end of 2007 to examine the full potential of Wortel discovery.

The company said Wortel-3 would be located immediately to the east of Wortel-1. the Wortel-1 well, which was discovered in 2006 with gross gas column of 141 meters overlying a gas water contact.

Wortel-2 which was drilled east-southeast of Wortel-1 failed to encounter significant hydrocarbons or reservoir.

The company said close proximity of Wortel to Oyong oil, gas field, which is currently being developed by Sampang PSC partnership, allows the possibility of developing Wortel gas through Oyong facilities, with Wortel gas possibly coming onstream at the `same time as Oyong gas. Oyong gas is expected to come onstream late 2008, while crude is expected to start flowing early in the third quarter of this year with initial flow of 8,000-10,000 BPD.

Meanwhile, the company also said that the block’s partnership are currently studying possibility to commercialize Jeruk discovery and possible development scenarios are currently being reviewed. “Development of the field will require resolution of commercial and various technical aspects,” the company said.

The block’s operator Santos Limited last year said that the size of recoverable oil in Jeruk discovery was likely less than 50 million barrels, much less than the figure of 170 million barrels originally thought.

Cue has 15 percent working interest in the block, while Santos and Singapore Petroleum Company (SPC) has 45 percent and 40 percent, respectively. (alex)