Appraisal well confirms Mya discovery extension at A3
Good news and not so good from ongoing drilling at Myanmar’s offshore exploration block A3, where OVL and GAIL hold a combined 30%.
First the good news: PETROWATCH learns the first appraisal well drilled in January encountered an extension of the Mya gas discovery made last year on this block. But the second well – an exploration well – drilled shortly after did not give encouraging results.
Transocean semi-submersible Sedco drilled both wells under this year’s campaign at A3 that will see one exploration and three appraisal wells. One appraisal and one exploration well have already been drilled and Sedco is now drilling the second appraisal well.
A consortium source tells us the first appraisal well – spud around 13th January - was drilled in about 500 metres water depth and encountered the reservoir section around 3300 metres. TD was 3700 metres in the Pliocene section.
Encouraged by gas shows, operator Daewoo ordered a MDT and logs were recorded early March. “The MDT sampled gas and the reservoir seems to be on the same trend as in Mya,†we hear.
But the exploration well that followed was a disappointment. “There were some gas shows but while MDT was being done water came in.
†This well was drilled to about 3800 metres. Sedco is drilling the second appraisal well to TD of about 3700 metres.
The reservoir section is believed to be around 3400 metres. Daewoo will complete this well by the end of March after which it will drill the third and final appraisal well to TD of 3600 metres.
Results from the first exploration well in this year’s campaign were disappointing and A3 partners do not believe they can book significant upside to the 4.8-tcf recoverable reserves estimated from blocks A1 and A3 together. “It was thought recoverable reserves could go up to about 10-tcf,†says a source.
“But now these could be about 5-tcf or 6-tcf.â€