Woodside and Total Set to Drill
Friday 18 November 2016
Woodside Petroleum has contracted a deep-water drillship for its next major exploration and appraisal campaign off Myanmar, and Total has hired a jack-up rig for its next drilling assignment off the same country.
A spokesperson for Woodside confirmed it has hired the Transocean-owned drillship Dhirubhai Deepwater KG2 for its upcoming programme in Block AD-7 and Block A6 in the Rakhine basin.
The campaign is scheduled to begin by February next year and covers four firm wells, with options for three more, said the spokesperson.
The combined duration of both the firm and the contingent wells could account for 375 days.
Water depths in Block A7 range from 800 metres to 1300 metres, while water depth in Block A6 are between 2000 and 2500 metres.
The Australian operator made two big discoveries in the two permits in its inaugural Myanmar drilling effort earlier this year.
The Shwe Yee Htun-1 discovery in Block A-6 and Thalin-1A in Block AD-7 contain 2.4 trillion cubic feet of gas on a best estimate gross basis.
Woodside has already indicated that the AD-7 joint venture aims to define a development concept for Thalin by mid-2017, with a tie-back to Daewoo International’s producing Shwe gas field facilities considered a logical option.
Daewoo is Woodside’s partner in Block AD-7 — the Australian player has a 40% operating interest with Daewoo owning the rest.
The Shwe Yee Htun-1 discovery in Block A-6, where Total of France and MPRL E&P are its partners, has both tie-back and standalone development options.
One option is a tie-back to the Total-operated Yadana gas processing facility, although a standalone development with gas piped to shore is also a possibility.
Woodside has identified development options to produce its gas for pipeline sales into the domestic Myanmar market and for other nearby growing Asian gas markets. The company said it is processing and evaluating more than 31,500 square kilometres of high-quality seismic data acquired across its acreage position in the Rakhine.
Meanwhile, Total has hired the jack-up rig PV Drilling 1 for its upcoming campaign off Myanmar.
Total has had a presence in Myanmar for many years, and is the operator of the large Yadana field, which produces gas primarily for delivery to Thailand’s PTT for use in Thai power plants.
Yadana produced an average 745 million cubic feet per day of gas in the first nine months this year, and also supplies the domestic Myanmar market. It is understood the drilling campaign will take place at the Yadana asset.
Joint venture partner PTTEP indicated in its recent results that exploration and development wells are planned at Yadana.
Total’s only other acreage in Myanmar is its operated 100% interest in deep offshore Block YWB, and its non-operated stake in Block A-6.