Continental submits plan to develop Bangkudulis oil field on northeast Kalimantan

Continental submits plan to develop Bangkudulis oil field on northeast Kalimantan  By OGJ editors HOUSTON, Mar. 17 2004 Continental Energy Corp., Langley, BC, submitted for government consideration a plan that indicates that development of Bangkudulis field in East Kalimantan could reasonably recover almost 5.5 million bbl of oil in 20 years. This volume is 18.59% of calculated initial oil in place. Continental's GAT Bangkudulis Petroleum Co. Ltd. (GATB) would develop the field on the 5,000-acre Bangkudulis Technical Assistance Contract block (OGJ Online, Sept. 27, 2000). Beneficiaries of revenue from the field are Pertamina, the Indonesian government, and GATB. ARCO discovered Bangkudulis field in 1980 in the Tarakan basin on northeastern Borneo. The A1 discovery well tested a combined flow of more than 6,000 b/d of sweet, 40° gravity oil from 119 ft of net pay in four sandstone zones near 3,200 ft. A fifth zone, a 57-ft thick sandstone near 4,500 ft, flowed 4.5 MMcfd of gas. Phase 1 development should include drilling three production wells within 500 m of the discovery well and treatment and-or workover of the A1 well. Facilities should be built to handle, treat, store, transport, and deliver 3,000 b/d, though Phase 1 target production is 1,500 b/d. Barges would deliver the oil to Pertamina's Bunyu Island oil terminal a short distance off the coast. Projected costs for the 9-month Phase 1 are $5 million in addition to $6.5 million already spent plus $7 million likely to be derived largely from production revenue. Follow-on Phase 2 would involve drilling 18-24 wells to define field limits west, southwest, and south of A1. Mapping indicates that numerous fault blocks make up the field structure on those directions, and other zones encountered by earlier wells could be penetrated. A third development phase could follow, the plan said.

April 2004