Serica spuds E. Kutai exploration well

UK independent oil, gas firm Serica Energy plc said on Thursday it has spudded Marindan-1 exploration well in the southern part of the Kutai PSC offshore East Kalimantan.

The well is targeting five separate multilayer clastic and carbonate reservoirs of late Miocene to early Pliocene age in the interval from 1,400 to 3,500 metres measured depth and will be deviated at a maximum angle of approximately 30 degrees in order to reach each target at the optimum subsurface location, the company said.

The reservoirs have been prognosed on the basis of offset well data and modern 3D seismic.

The Marindan well is being drilled about 2.5 kilometres from the Pegah-1 well drilled by a previous operator in 1974. Pegah-1 found trace shows of oil and produced a small volume of gas during a drill stem test.

Water depth at the well location is 55 metres and the well is expected to take approximately 30 days to complete, it said.

Serica leased the Trident IX jack-up rig to drill the well.

Earlier, Serica and partners drilled of Dambus-1 exploration well in the block, which failed to discover hydrocarbon at commercial volume.

Serica is operator of the Kutai PSC and holds a 30% interest. (kanti)