Carnarvon Energy Ltd. noted a 12 m gross oil column interpreted from data gained from logging-while-drilling tools from its Buffalo-10 appraisal well in the Timor Sea.
The well, in Timor Leste production sharing contract area TL-SO-T 19-14, reached a total depth of 3,415 m and the LWD tools identified that the primary reservoir has been intersected.
The top Elang reservoir was reached at around 3,338 m, which was about 80 m low to prognosis and outside the pre-drill range of expectations, the company said.
“The information to date indicates that the seismic processing techniques employed on this project have not resolved the underlying seismic velocity distortion or imaging resolution issues that are present in Buffalo field,” the company added.
The forward plan is to run wireline logs to determine the reservoir properties and confirm a net oil column.
Buffalo-10 was designed to evaluate the presence of what was hoped to be a significant accumulation of attic oil in the field, left after the original field production was shut in. Carnarvon said last year that the subsea interpretation had been supported using full waveform inversion technology to reprocess the 3D seismic data acquired over the prospect.
Carnarvon farmed out a 50% interest in the Buffalo redevelopment project to Advance Energy PLC in December 2020 and has been free-carried for the first US$20 million of well costs. Carnarvon retained 50% interest and operatorship.
Buffalo field was discovered by BHP in 1996 when the permit was in Australian jurisdiction and brought on stream in 1999. It produced 20.5 million bbl of oil until shut in by Nexen in 2004.
When the Timor Sea marine boundary was redrawn in 2019, Buffalo came under East Timor jurisdiction.