Carnarvon Petroleum Ltd., Perth, will drill its Buffalo-10 appraisal well in the East Timor sector of the Timor Sea during this year’s fourth quarter.
The company received $20 million from British farminee Advance Energy PLC to fund the well and earn 50% interest. Carnarvon will only be required to pay if well costs exceed that amount.
Procurement of long-lead equipment has begun which should be available before the end of the third quarter.
A tender process for a jack up drilling rig is nearing completion.
Buffalo field, originally in Australian waters prior to the redrawing of the international boundary with East Timor, was discovered by BHP in 1996. First oil was produced in 1999. The field passed to Nexen who terminated production in 2004.
Total production from the Jurassic-age Elang formation reservoir to that point was 20.5 million bbl of oil.
Carnarvon has since done extensive 3D seismic work and found there is potentially a significant volume of attic oil yet to be produced because of the suboptimal positioning of the original wells.
Buffalo-10 is aimed at appraisal, redevelopment, and production of remaining oil.