SundaGas Banda Unipessoal, a subsidiary of UK-based oil and gas company Baron Oil, has completed geophysical site surveys at the planned drilling location for the Chuditch-2 appraisal well, offshore Timor-Leste, and is planning to start a new one next month.
The geophysical site survey was successfully carried out during February and March 2024, despite some operational delays, principally related to weather conditions, and the results have been incorporated into the geotechnical survey planning, Baron Oil informed.
The vessel that will carry out the geotechnical site survey had its arrival into the Timor Sea delayed, again owing to adverse weather conditions, but is now preparing to mobilize to the Chuditch survey area.
This geotechnical work is expected to be completed during April 2024, according to Baron Oil.
The objective of the site survey work is to identify any potential hazards at the proposed well site, ensuring that a drilling rig can be located safely and with minimal environmental impact.
The site survey consists of geophysical studies (remote seabed investigation) and geotechnical work (physical studies of the seabed), using two separate vessels.
SundaGas Timor-Leste, a fully owned subsidiary of Baron, is the parent company of the Timor-Leste subsidiary SundaGas Banda Unipessoal, which is the operator of and 60% interest holder in the offshore Timor-Leste TL-SO-19-16 Chuditch production sharing contract (PSC).
The remaining 40% interest is held by a subsidiary of the Timor-Leste state oil company Timor Gap, whose interest is carried by Banda to development.
The Chuditch PSC is located approximately 185 km south of Timor-Leste, 100 km east of the producing Bayu-Undan field, and 50 km south of the Greater Sunrise potential development.
It covers an area of approximately 3,571 km2, in water depths of 50-100 m, and contains the Chuditch-1 gas discovery drilled by Shell in 1998.
The well was drilled in 26 days at a cost of US$8 million and encountered a 25 m gas column in the Jurassic Plover formation on the flank of a large faulted structure.
Following the farm-up agreement with Baron Oil for Chuditch development concluded in February 2024, Timor Gap will be responsible for paying 20% of all costs in relation to the PSC, including the drilling of the planned Chuditch-2 appraisal well.