Oil Search, the owner of a 29 percent stake in the ExxonMobil-operated PNG LNG project, said a production test at the third sidetrack well at the Muruk 1 gas discovery in Papua new Guinea has been completed.
The production test was undertaken to assess reservoir productivity and recover hydrocarbon samples over the gas saturated Toro Sandstone interval, from 3,968 meters to 4,065 meters.
Whilst the test was constrained by tubing limitations and downhole issues, which limited it to a number of short flow and build-up periods over an eight-day period, the results confirmed a very good quality reservoir with a high deliverability consistent with the Toro reservoirs in the Central Fold Belt.
Oil Search added that due to the tubing limitations, the well produced gas at a maximum equipment-constrained rate of 16 million standard cubic feet per day on a 32/64” choke. Multiple hydrocarbon samples have been collected for further analysis.
Having completed all evaluation operations, the well will now be plugged and abandoned, with down-hole pressure gauges in place to monitor the response of potential future appraisal activity.
The Muruk drilling program has discovered a potentially significant new gas field, 21 kilometers northwest of the Hides facilities and immediately north of the Juha gas field and further de-risks the gas prospectivity along the Hides to P’nyang trend.
The data from the Muruk well and three sidetracks will be evaluated to assess the potential gas resource. Follow-up well site preparations are being scheduled for late 2017 ahead of a potential appraisal program in 2018.
Oil Search is the operator of the Muruk 1 gas field with a 37.5 percent stake with ExxonMobil holding 42.5 percent and Santos holding a 20 percent stake.