AWE told the market yesterday it expected these “issues” would be rectified over the next one to two months and said it would not add extra costs.

The Lisah-1 and Lengo-1 wells had originally been due for drilling in the third quarter of this year.

Following this, the joint venture expects to undertake a 3D seismic survey.

AWE added that it continued to view the Bulu PSC as a “high-quality” exploration opportunity.

It farmed-into the acreage in June, taking a 42.5% stake off Abu Dhabi-based Aabar Petroleum in return for funding $US12 million towards drilling the first two exploration wells.

Covering 3495 square kilometres, the Bulu PSC is located in the East Java Basin in about 60 metres of water.

The East Java sedimentary basin is a significant oil and gas producing region, with the area surrounding the Bulu PSC containing a number of oil and gas accumulations, including the Pangkah, Poleng and Kepodang fields.

Other partners in the project are PT Satria Energindo (0%) and PT Satria Wijayakusuma (5%)