Subsidiaries of BG plc and ARCO today announced an agreement
to collaborate in the supply of gas to the proposed Tangguh
liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Irian Jaya, eastern
Indonesia, using reserves from the Wiriagar, Berau and
Muturi production sharing contracts (PSCs).
Operational responsibility for the fields within the
three blocks feeding the previously-announced Tangguh
project will belong to ARCO, which has been designated
the PSC representative to state oil company Pertamina.
Frank Chapman, BG plc Executive Director for Exploration
and Production, said: "I am delighted with the conclusion
of the collaboration agreement with ARCO. This will enable
the government of Indonesia and all the partners involved
to benefit from an optimal development of the reserves
in all three licences".
Last month, ARCO announced proved and probable reserves
in excess of 13 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in
support of the Tangguh project, a name meaning 'reliability
and strength' given by Indonesia's President Suharto.
Today, Atlantic Richfield Berau Inc. and BG Exploration
and Production Ltd. announced the results of another
successful well drilled by ARCO.
The well, Vorwata-4, drilled under the terms of the
collaboration agreement, is located on the leaseline
between the ARCO-operated Berau block and the BG-operated
Muturi block. The well flowed gas at a tubing-limited
rate of 36 million standard cubic feet per day from Jurassic
age sandstone formations.
Leon Codron, President of Atlantic Richfield Indonesia
Inc., said: "We are very pleased with the productivity
and quality of the gas in Vorwata-4. The results indicate
that the Vorwata reservoir discovered by ARCO and its
co-venturers this year extends northward into the Muturi
PSC, providing the area with additional reserve potential
beyond earlier estimates and further supporting a multi-train
Tangguh LNG project."
To further prove the extension of the Vorwata reservoir
into the Muturi block, BG and its partners - Cairns Limited,
a wholly-owned subsidiary of Genting Berhad, and PT Saptapetra
Wisesa - plan a continuous campaign of drilling in Muturi
through to mid-1998. BG said that some of the wells will
be testing the limits of the geological structure.
BG said that gas shows were encountered in several prospective
horizons while drilling the Nambumbi-1 well, located
four kilometres northwest of the Vorwata-1 discovery
well and designed to test for reserves at the northern
limit of the Vorwata field.
Mechanical difficulties prevented a comprehensive test
of the well and it has now been suspended. Drilling continues
in the Muturi block at Sakauni-1 which began on October
4 and is located 11 kilometres north-east of Vorwata-4.
Notes to Editors
Partners in the Berau block are ARCO (48 per cent);
Occidental Berau of Indonesia, Inc (22.856 per cent);
Nippon Oil Exploration (Berau) Ltd. (17.144 per cent);
and KG Berau Petroleum Ltd. (12 per cent). Partners in
the Wiriagar block are ARCO (80 per cent), and KG Wiriagar
Petroleum Ltd (20 per cent). ARCO is operator of both
blocks through its Atlantic Richfield Berau Inc. and
Atlantic Richfield Wiriagar Inc. subsidiaries.
BG Exploration and Production operates the Muturi concession,
which covers 4,652 square kilometres of the Kepala Burung
region of Irian Jaya. The first well, Mogoi Deep-1, drilled
onshore in the northwest of the concession in 1996 recorded
cumulative gas flows of 40 million cubic feet per day.
Partners in the Muturi concession are: BG (50 per cent);
Cairns Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of Genting Berhad
(45 per cent); and PT Saptapetra Wisesa (five per cent). |