Rick Wilkinson
OGJ Correspondent
MELBOURNE, May 18 -- AED Oil Ltd., Melbourne, has tested its first development well in Puffin oil field in the Ashmore Cartier AC/L6 permit in the Timor Sea.
Puffin-7 flowed at 9,700 b/d through a 48/64-in. choke with 677 psi flowing pressure. The company said the rate was limited by testing equipment and safety requirements.
The test produced no formation water or sand. AED says the well will be brought on stream at more than 15,000 b/d. The well is in the same Cretaceous-age reservoir of the geologically complex field as earlier wells, Puffin-1 (1972) and Puffin-5 (2000), both drilled by other operators.
The oil is a sweet crude of 45º gravity. Samples have been collected for reservoir fluid analysis and refinery assays.
The company intends to begin production via a subsea wellhead at Puffin-7 hooked into a floating production, storage, and offloading vessel later this year. It has signed a service contract with Norwegian firm Frontline.
Earlier this year the Puffin-9 exploration well in a separate part of the field was also successful. AED might it to the production FPSO rather than the scheduled yet-to-be-drilled Puffin-8 development well (OGJ, May 1, 2006, Newsletter).
AED has a 100% interest in the 13-million-bbl field.
