Nyari-1, which was drilled to a total depth of 3693 metres, intersected the Kujung Formation, but wireline logs indicated the primary target was water bearing, with no hydrocarbons present, operator Santos said.
The Sedco 601 drilling rig will now move to the Jeruk-3 appraisal well in the Sampang PSC, west of the Madura Offshore PSC.
Partners in the Madura Offshore PSC are Santos (Madura Offshore - operator and 67.5%) PC Madura Ltd (Petronas Carigali, 22.5%) and Petrogas Wari Jatim (10%).
Meanwhile, Santos’ decision not to participate in the shallow targets of the Kyrgyz Republic project, means licence-holder JSC Textonic, a Caspian Oil & Gas subsidiary, is now the sole company in that part of the development.
But Santos remains committed to a farmin to Textonic’s 10 licences, which cover about 16,500 sqare kilometres. Here, Caspian said Santos can sole fund up to US$24 million (A$32.15 million) to assess and drill larger, deeper targets over the next 3.5 years under a staged work program to earn a final 80% operated interest.
The shallow layers are defined as the interval to a vertical depth of 1,000m within the Charvak, Ashvaz, East Mailisu and West Mailisu licences.
A feasibility study by Santos concluded the shallow layers did not contain enough potential to warrant its involvement, but said it could be attractive to Caspian. Santos will provide recommendations on the way forward to Caspian.
Caspian said it was arranging for technical consultants to review the Santos report, which would be available by the end of this month, to design a development and exploration strategy for the shallow section.
Discussions will also be held with several oil companies, which have expressed interest in participating in these projects, it said.
Caspian told EnergyReview.net last year tatit did not expect Santos to participate in the shallow targets. Caspian deliberately excised that part of the acreage from its original farmout to Santos as it believed the relatively small targets would not be of interest to such a large company.
But given the current oil market, the likelihood of near-term production, even at modest levels, from the shallow prospects was attractive to small and mid-sized companies such as Caspian, it said.
Caspian says it continues to assess new opportunities in the Kyrgyz Republic and elsewhere.
