Oil Search Ltd.’s Barikewa-3 appraisal well in retention license PRL-9 in the forelands of Papua New Guinea has encountered natural gas in the target Toro and Hedinia sandstone reservoirs.
The company said both reservoirs were well developed, with the Toro better than expected in terms of thickness and reservoir quality.
The well has now reached a total depth of 1,943 m and preparations are under way to run a drill stem test over the Toro interval. The test will be followed by a plug and abandonment program as planned.
Data from the well will be used to aid assessment of options for the potential commercialization of Barikewa field, which was originally discovered in 1957 with the Barikewa-1 wildcat. At that time, the isolation and the fact that the find was gas meant it was put aside in favor of the hunt for oil.
Subsequent appraisal has been a long-running affair with Barikewa-2, drilled in 1982, found to be dry. It was drilled down-dip from the discovery well on the northern flank of the anticline. Well data and later seismic indicated the No. 2 well was separated physically and hydraulically from Barikewa-1 by faulting.
With the discovery of South East Gobe oil and gas field about 20 km to the northwest in 1991, the potential of Barikewa received renewed interest. A retention license over the field was granted in December 2002. The lease was extended in 2007 and 2D seismic run in 2009. A further extension was awarded in 2017 on the promise of a work program that included the drilling of Barikewa-3 and the acquisition of more seismic data.
The contingent 2C gas resources in the field pre-Barikewa-3 were estimated to be 300 bcf with 3C resources put at 823 bcf.
The potential viability of development has been enhanced in the last few years as the field lies a mere 5 km from the PNG-LNG project pipeline.
Oil Search is operator with 45% interest, Barracuda Ltd. has 40%, and NPCP Oil Co. Pty. Ltd. has 14.9%.
In other Papua New Guinea news from Oil Search, the company has announced that its Agogo production facility near Kutubu in the highlands region has resumed operations following completion of repair work after a major earthquake caused extensive damage to the facilities in February.
Oil production began at an initial rate of about 2,000 b/d. The production rate will be progressively ramped up during the next 6-7 months.
