Sele Raya to drill more wells at Merangin II block

PT Sele Raya Merangin Dua plans to drill up to eight wells in the company?s Merangin II oil and gas block in South Sumatra to further boost the company?s oil production, Kontan daily reported on Thursday.

Sele Raya?s chairman Eddy Tampi said in Jakarta on Wednesday that the company would spend up to US$20 million to buy drilling equipment and to finance drilling works and infrastructure development of the Merangin II field.

With the operations of the new wells, Sele Raya expects the production will be able to increase to 8,000 barrels per day from just about 2,000 bpd at present,

Besides the Merangin II field, Sele Raya also operates two other oil blocks ? Belida oil block in South Sumatra and Blora block in Pati, Central Java, which are now still on exploration stages.

Eddy said that the company had spent up to $150 million to develop the three oil fields including the drilling of 16 exploration wells. As many as 11 of the 16 wells have begun production, while the other five wells could not be operated because of the lack of oil reserves, he added.

He hoped the Blora block could start production in 2015. (*)