UK-listed Harbour Energy (LON:HBR) has cautioned that “permeability was on the low side of expectations” at its play-opening deepwater Timpan-1 exploration well offshore Indonesia in the North Sumatra basin.
“Meaning that reservoir quality at that location is not as good as we hoped it might be,” the company’s chief executive Linda Cook said during the release of Harbour’s financial results this week.
Following the discovery announced in July “there is a lot of work ahead to analyse the extensive data set acquired,” said Cook.
“The good news is that gas was found in large quantities,” she added.
“And this de-risks to some extent, multiple other multi-trillion cubic feet prospects across the acreage,” said Cook.
The initial result bodes well for the frontier area and could open up more petroleum plays, which are thought to be gas prone.
The operator completed the drilling of the Timpan-1 exploration well, located 150 kilometres offshore Indonesia, in a water depth of 4,245 feet, with the West Capella drillship, at its Andaman II production-sharing contract (PSC).
“The well was drilled to a total vertical depth of 13,818 feet subsea. The well hit a 390 foot gas column in a high net-to-gross, fine-grained sandstone reservoir with associated permeability of 1-10 mD. A full data acquisition programme has been completed including wireline logging, 240 feet of core recovered and a drill stem test,” Harbour said in a statement in July.
“The well flowed on test at 27 mmscfd of gas and 1,884 bopd of associated 58 degrees API condensate through a 56/64 inch choke. While the well has encountered a material gas accumulation, further work will be required to establish commerciality and the full potential of this play across the licence,” said the company.
Mubadala Petroleum, a partner in the Timpan-1 well, said in July that the results are especially important as an indication that the adjacent fields the Andaman I and South Andaman, which it operates with 80% interest, will also include material under-explored resources, reinforcing the potential to help meet energy demand in the region and align with its expansion plans in Indonesia.
Premier Oil, now a Harbour company, holds a 40% operated interest at the Andaman II Block. It said it has a strong supportive partnership with BP (LON:BP) and Mubadala, both partners in the PSC.
