Hope stoked onshore East Timor as driller hits oil

Plucky explorer Timor Assets has encountered “hydrocarbon reveals of significance” whereas drilling its second properly onshore East Timor as the corporate considers an preliminary public providing (IPO) to boost extra funds in its quest to unlock the nation’s petroleum potential.

The most recent information of an oil discovery has raised hopes of a possible oil bonanza within the nation that’s extremely depending on waning oil and gasoline reserves for revenues. Nevertheless, analysts warning that there’s a lengthy technique to go earlier than any business discovery is confirmed, if ever.

The privately-owned Australian oil and gasoline firm final October spudded the primary onshore properly, Karau-1, in additional than 50 years within the Southeast Asian nation, also referred to as Timor Leste, as a part of a back-to-back exploration drilling marketing campaign.

The second properly, Kumbilli-1, was drilled in PSC TL-OT-17-08, also referred to as Block A.

Nevertheless, it’s too early to say if the oil discovery is business. “The pay zone is fractured, and the fracture evaluation is important to volumes being established. Third social gathering technical consultants are presently enterprise this scope of labor. A full drill stem take a look at will affirm. That is thrilling for exercise onshore Timor-Leste,” mentioned Suellen Osborne, chief government of Timor Assets.

“The FMI information is presently being interpreted, oil samples and reservoir samples have been flown to the laboratories in Australia. We could have a set concept of the volumes that we stay up for sharing with you when now we have all of the details. A full DST suite of testing tools is being shipped into Timor-Leste to do prolonged manufacturing checks so we are able to affirm the amount,” she advised Vitality Voice as we speak.

“Logging reveals in depth pure fracturing, an vital manufacturing attribute for a limestone and Triassic clastic reservoir of this sort and one that would result in an improve of the online pay estimate because the traits of the reservoir turn out to be higher understood,” Timor Assets mentioned in a press release.

“Excessive down gap pressures encountered lends confidence to the reservoir being adequately charged to assist oil restoration,” added the explorer.

The outcomes of the primary two wells drilled onshore East Timor, by contractor Japanese Drilling and subcontractor Schlumberger, are very encouraging, mentioned the corporate, which is dedicated to unlocking the nation’s onshore useful resource potential.

Timor Assets’ technique is to advance discipline growth of its massive onshore oil acreage in East Timor via further exploration wells, manufacturing wells, in addition to oil storage and export infrastructure. To attain its targets the corporate intends to accomplice with strategic monetary buyers to boost further capital. Timor Assets additionally mentioned it’s presently implementing a scientific course of to entry this extra capital. This will lead to an IPO of the corporate in the end.

Timor Assets has a big stock of exploration prospects. Previous to preliminary drilling Timor Assets had seven seismic outlined prospects, with a P50 of 520 million barrels, in its stock.

Following the drilling discoveries in Karau-1 and Kumbilli-1 the corporate mentioned, “it’s going to safe further capital with a view to undertake a drilling marketing campaign targeted on the 5 remaining extremely potential, seismic recognized, drillable targets.”

Any vital oil discovery would supply a welcome windfall for East Timor, which has been closely reliant on revenues from oil and gasoline. Nevertheless, manufacturing from its sole producing discipline Bayu Undan is waning and operator Santos expects to close down the sphere inside a few years.