Australian oil and gas company Octanex started drilling the Ophir A1 well on Friday using the UMW Naga 2 jack-up drilling rig.
To recall, the rig started demobilizing from its previous drilling location and headed to the Ophir field for a three-well drilling campaign at the end of May.
The Ophir A1 well is the first of three planned production wells to be drilled and completed in the Ophir field located offshore Peninsular Malaysia. The Ophir field is being developed via three production wells, a well head platform (WHP) and floating production storage and offload (FPSO) vessel.
According to Octanex, the well will target stacked reservoirs in a four-way dip closed structure previously discovered and tested by the discovery well, Ophir-1 and four additional appraisal wells, and further defined with 3D seismic data acquired in 2011.
The target reservoirs have been proven oil-bearing through the Ophir discovery and appraisal wells, and further supported by productive wells located in adjacent fields.
The Ophir oil field is being developed under a Risk Service Contract (RSC) granted in 2014 to Ophir Production Sdn Bhd (OPSB), a joint venture company in which Octanex has a 50% interest. Other joint venturers in OPSB are Scomi Energy Services with 30% interest and Vestigo Petroleum, a subsidiary of Petronas, with the remaining 20% interest.
Earlier this year, a donor vessel was secured for conversion into an FPSO for use on the Ophir field. MTC Engineering (MTCE), a Malaysian oil and gas marine contractor, is in charge of the conversion of the oil tanker into the MTC Ledang FPSO.