Rick Wilkinson
OGJ Correspondent
MELBOURNE, June 14 -- AED Oil Ltd., Melbourne, has bought 100% of Talbot field in the Timor Sea from Apache Energy for $2 million and plans a new development to complement its nearby wholly owned Puffin development. Talbot has an estimated 21.8 million bbl of oil in place.
AED said it identified Talbot more than 5 years ago as an opportunity for expanding its regional operations.
The field lies in 50-105 m of water on the eastern edge of the Vulcan subbasin 60 km east of Puffin and about the same distance southwest of Challis and Jabiru fields. AED said the Triassic-age reservoir is at a shallow 1,500 m subsea, which will enable relatively quick, cheap drilling.
Initial development plans call for drilling a production well with dual horizontal laterals and a water injection well to boost recovery.
The small gas cap will be blown down first, followed by 1,000-1,500 b/d of oil production via subsea wellheads connected to a small floating production unit or a nearby jack up unit in shallower water.
Talbot, now held in retention license AC/RL1, was found in 1989 by a group led by Santos Ltd.
Two wells flowed about 1,500 b/d oil and several million cubic feet/day of gas, but the field was considered uneconomic at the time.
Aided by today's strong prevailing oil prices, AED said it plans to bring Talbot on stream in late 2008.
