Amerada Hess Thai unit makes natural gas discovery in Thailand
By an OGJ correspondent
BANGKOK, June 9 -- Amerada Hess Corp. unit Amerada Hess (Thailand) Ltd. said Phu Horm-3 well on Block E5N in the northeastern province of Udon Thani in Thailand has encountered dry natural gas. The well flowed 46 MMcfd in initial production tests; an extended test is currently under way.
Company officials currently estimate that Phu Horm could contain 400-900 bcf of gas reserves and could be capable of delivering 200-300 MMcfd.
Jan Evensen, general manager of Amerada Hess (Thailand), said the company along with its partners plans to spend $200 million over the next 5 years for exploration and development activities on the tract.
Evensen said commercial gas production from Phu Horm could start as early as 2005. Gas would be supplied to the Nam Phong power station, about 40 km away, in Khon Kaen province.
Chitrapongse Kwangsukstith, president of PTT Exploration & Production PLC (PTTEP) of Thailand, said, because of the good potential, PTTEP is interested in raising its stake in Block E5N from its current 20%.
Amerada Hess (Thailand) is farming out half of its 80% interest in E5N Block to Apico LLC, a US-based oil and gas firm. As a result, both Amerada Hess and Apico will each have a 40% share in the acreage.
At least two more exploration wells will be drilled in the near future to further appraise Phu Horm's gas reserves potential, in addition to the three already drilled, according to Chitrapongse.
Amerada Hess has been evaluating Phu Horm field since 1999 in areas considered structurally more analogous to those that of Nam Phong, the country's first onshore gas field operated by Esso Exploration & Production Khorat Inc. The find lies just south of Phu Horm, where ExxonMobil Corp. unit Esso Exploration & Production Ltd. had earlier drilled two wells, including one gas discovery that the unit opted not to evaluate to pursue its production potential.
Amerada Hess (Thailand)'s Evensen said that Phu Horm would likely be able to sustain gas production higher than Nam Phong field, production from which peaked at 125 MMcfd in 1998. Phong field currently produces about 50 MMcfd of gas (OGJ Online, March 17, 2003).
Thai energy planners are looking at Phu Horm as a replacement to Nam Phong field to supply natural gas to the Nam Phong power plant operated by the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT). The 600 Mw power station is able to run only at half of its capacity due to the fall in Nam Phong gas supply. EGAT governor Sithiporn Rattanopas said the state power utility is looking at investing more than $470 million to raise the plant's generating capacity to 1,500 Mw so long as supplies from Phu Horm could be guaranteed.