South Sembakung-3 appraisal well spud

London Stock Exchange-listed independent oil, gas firm Salamander Energy announced that on 22 July it spudded an appraisal well on the South Sembakung gas-condensate discovery in the Simenggaris block, onshore Tarakan basin, East Kalimantan.

Salamander has a 21% interest in the block.

The South Sembakung-3 (SS-3) well will be drilled to a depth of approximately 9,000 feet sub-sea. The primary objective is the Middle Miocene Meliat formation, from which the discovery well flow-tested 12.7 million standard cubic feet of gas and 115 barrels of condensate per day. SS-3 is located approximately 1.5 km south west of the discovery well.

The well is being drilled by the Apexindo-2 rig and is estimated to cost US$6.2 million on a dry hole basis.

Pertamina - Medco Simenggaris Pty Ltd., operator of the Simenggaris block, carries a resource estimate of 125 billion cubic feet of gas and 3 million barrels of condensate for the South Sembakung structure, which is located approximately 7 km south west of the producing Sembakung oil and gas field.

The drilling of the SS-3 well is a part of a drilling programme that will appraise five fields and discoveries in the remainder of 2007 ahead of six to eight high impact wells in 2008 exploration programme, said the company.(alex)