Sarana GSS to start drilling in Termbul area

PT Sarana GSS Trembul (SGT), a joint venture between SGX-listed GSS Energy and Central Java province administration-owned PT Sarana Pembangunan Jawa Tengah, will start drilling activities at two oil wells in Trembul area, Central Java, in August.

General Manager of Sarana GSS Trembul (SGT) Bambang Mulyadi said in a recent statement that preparations including construction of access roads for delivery of the required rig and finalization of land acquisition process are underway for the planned drilling of the SGT-01 and SGT-02 wells that would reach a depth of 1,500 meters.

Meanwhile, GSS Energy Executive Director Suyulianto Badung Tariono was quoted by The Jakarta Post as saying that the company has allocated US$7.6 million for the drilling of four wells and seismic acquisition activities in the Trembul area. He, however, added that drilling of two wells are expected to start in September.

"We will make two wells first and hope we can produce [oil] at 800-meter and 1,350-meter deep," Badung said. "If everything goes well, we can expand by drilling two more wells, even in other unexplored areas."

GSS Energy through its 49 percent-owned SGT was awarded a 15-year joint operation (KSO) for the production of Trembul area by Pertamina EP in September of last year.

The Trembul Operation Area is situated within Blora Regency. It lies within the Kening Trough on the onshore East Java Basin, between Purwodadi High and East Cepu High, with reservoir potentials in Ledok, Wonocolo, Ngrayong, Tawun and Kujung.

Trembul Operation Area has 24 wells in total that were initially explored by Nederlandsche Koloniale Petroleum Mij (NKPM), a subsidiary of Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, now ExxonMobil, in 1917.

The area has approximately 40.1 million barrels of oil reserve, but NKPM only drilled out around 307,000 barrels. (*)