PTTEP plans six wells on Block M9 off Myanmar

Jan. 2, 2007
Thailand's PTT Exploration & Production PLC (PTTEP), operator of Block M9 in Myanmar's Gulf of Martaban 300 km south of Yangon, plans to expand its drilling program on the block following reports of potential commercial reserves resulting from its latest drilling campaign.

By an OGJ correspondent
BANGKOK, Jan. 2 -- Thailand's PTT Exploration & Production PLC (PTTEP), operator of Block M9 in Myanmar's Gulf of Martaban 300 km south of Yangon, plans to expand its drilling program on the block following reports of potential commercial reserves resulting from its latest drilling campaign.

PTTEP said an exploratory well it completed last month on the Zatika structure found gas at 2,484-5,177 ft intervals, but it did not disclose gas flow rates from the tests.

However, Myanmar state media quoted Energy Minister Lun Thi as saying plans are under way for PTTEP to drill six more wells on the acreage this year and to launch production as soon as possible.

Earlier in 2006, PTTEP made its first oil and gas discovery on the 27,000-sq-km block with the Zatika-1 exploration well but those flow rates were considered subcommercial (OGJ Online, Aug. 24, 2006).