Valeura Energy Inc., Calgary, has suspended production operations at Wassana oil field, offshore Gulf of Thailand.
On July 6, the floating storage and offloading (FSO) vessel stationed at the field deviated from its intended position and struck the field's catenary anchor leg mooring buoy. The company said no personnel were injured, no hydrocarbons were discharged, and there was no damage to the vessel or the buoy.
The operator has opted to suspend production operations at the field as a precautionary measure. The field had been producing about 2,400 b/d of oil, representing about 10% of Valeura's aggregate net production. Production had been restarted by Valeura on Apr. 28, 2023 after being suspended by the previous operator in May 2020.
The operator is reviewing safety and operating practices on the third-party-operated FSO before restarting production. A timeframe was not provided.
Valeura holds a 100% operated interest in license G10/48 containing Wassana oil field, which is a collection of crude oil-bearing sandstone reservoir intervals of Miocene age. The field is estimated to contain 2P reserves of 6.1 million bbl of oil as of Dec. 31, 2022.
Valeura initially acquired an operated 89% working interest through a transaction with KrisEnergy International (Thailand) Holdings Ltd. that was completed on June 15, 2022, and acquired the remaining 11% interest in April 2023 from Palang Sophon Ltd. (OGJ Online, June 15, 2022).
