GUIDE TO WORLD CRUDES TWO LIGHT, SWEET INDONESIAN CRUDES ASSAYED

Anne K. Rhodes
Refining/Petrochemical Editor

Two crudes from Southeast Asia have been assayed. Belida, from the South Natuna Sea, is a light, sweet crude, with an API gravity of 45.1 and almost no sulfur (0.02 wt %). Hydra, from the Zone of Cooperation between Indonesia and Australia in the Timor Sea, has a gravity of 37.5 API and a sulfur content of 0.08 wt %.

Belida operator Conoco Indonesia Ltd. began phase-two oil flow from a directional development well last October (OGJ, Nov. 1, 1993, p. 39). At that time, the company expected to drill and place on production as many as 20 more development wells.

Belida Platform B (WHP-B) is a 4-pile, 20-slot platform designed to handle 65,000 b/d of produced fluid and 33 MMcfd of gas. Production from the field was 84,665 b/d on Oct. 21, 1993, and was expected to reach 90,000 b/d by the end of that month. The operator expected a peak of 100,000 b/d some time this year.

Conoco holds a 40% interest in the field, Texaco Block B Natuna Sea holds 25%, and Chevron International and Inpex Natuna Sea hold 17.5% each. Block B is held under a 30-year production-sharing contract with Indonesian state oil company Pertamina. The contract was signed in 1968, but was later extended to 2018.

The second crude, Hydra, is from the first well drilled in the Zone of Cooperation between Indonesia and Australia (OGJ, Jan. 4, 1993, p. 26). Marathon Oil Co. spudded the first Hydra well in block ZOCA 9-11 in late 1992.

As of early last year, five operating groups were expected to drill seven wells in second-half 1993. And a total of 26 wells had been committed for the Zone of Cooperation between 1995 and 1997, making the area a hotbed of exploration.

Although the Journal has acquired no additional information on the Hydra program since that time, the assay may provide an idea of the quality of the crudes from that area.