Daewoo begins three-well appraisal at A-3 in Myanmar
Daewoo has hired Transocean semi-submersible Sedco for its appraisal campaign at exploration block A-3 offshore Myanmar, where ONGC Videsh and GAIL hold a combined 30%.
On 13th January, Sedco spud the first of three planned appraisal wells shortly after its arrival from a shipyard in Singapore. Drilling is expected to last a month to TD of approximately 3400 metres.
PETROWATCH learns the consortium has agreed a rate of around $400,000 a day to hire Sedco, which will sit in water depths of more than 500 metres at each of the three appraisal wells planned at A-3. TD for each of the other two wells will be between 3200 and 3500 metres.
Last year Daewoo drilled one exploration well at the Mya prospect on A-3 using Chinese semi-submersible Nanhai-II. “The wells planned for this year are to appraise the Mya discovery,†says a source, “and throw up other data that is essential for a development plan.
†Daewoo has already shot more than 2000-sq km 3D and 15,000-km 2D on the 4000-sq km A-3 block, the vast bulk of which sits in shallow water. Most of the prospective areas are believed to lie in the deeper portions of the block.
Although still early days, A-3 is believed to hold gas in-place of 3-tcf, a figure that will become clearer after results emerge from the three appraisal wells now planned. Daewoo wants to finish the appraisal-drilling programme fast so it can jointly develop the A-3 discovery with discoveries in adjacent block A-1, where OVL and GAIL also hold a combined 30% stake.
Myanmar authorities are unsurprisingly keen to begin fast development of A-1 and A-3 so they can begin earning revenue from gas exports to India. Daewoo (60%) operates A-3 alongside ONGC Videsh (20%), GAIL (10%) and KOGAS (10%), also of South Korea.