EXPLORATION

Woodside two for two in Myanmar

WOODSIDE Petroleum is now two for two in its offshore Myanmar portfolio, with the Thalin-1A explo...

Woodside two for two in Myanmar

The well intersected a 64m gross gas column in the expected primary target zone, proving a working petroleum system and a new play type different to that encountered at January's Shwe Yee Htun-1 discovery in the southern part of the basin.

Block AD-7 is located in the Bay of Bengal, some 100km offshore of the west coast of Myanmar in around 836m of water.

The well reached a total depth of 3034m.

Woodside CEO Peter Coleman said the two discoveries at opposite ends of the Rakhine Basin was a great result for the company.

"These results are very encouraging for future exploration and appraisal activity, given the significant footprint we have in Myanmar," he said.

"These discoveries provide evidence of the high quality of offshore Myanmar as an exploration focus area," he said.

Thalin-1A is located in the northern part of the Rakhine Basin, around 60km west of the Daewoo International Corporation-operated producing Shwe field (4.5 trillion cubic feet), which has onshore gas plant and pipeline gas export facilities.

Woodside operates the drilling operations in AD-7 (40%), bringing its deeper water experience to aid Daewoo (60%).

The presence of Daewoo in the joint venture suggests an obvious commercialisation path for Thalin-1A in the event it is successfully appraised.

Shwe Yee Htun-1 was drilled in some 2030m of water in Block A-6, and while it intersected a 129m gross gas column, the net gas pay was a mere 15m.

Woodside clearly likes what it sees in AD-7. The block's area was recently expanded north to the Myanmar maritime boundary.

The AD-7 JV has also approved the acquisition of an additional 1200sq.km of 3D seismic data over the area from March once current seismic work is completed.

Woodside is the largest acreage holder in the offshore Rakhine Basin with interests in six blocks covering some 47,000sq.km, an area that represents 20% of Woodside's global exploration acreage.

The company has rapidly moved on exploration in Myanmar since sinning multiple blocks in the 2013 bid round.

The USGS says there could be between 100 million barrels and 1.6 billion bbl and 4-45Tcf (risked) undiscovered in Myanmar.

Myanmar is one of the world's oldest oil producers, exporting its first barrel in 1853, but most of its modern production is from natural gas.

Woodside shares were up 0.487% this morning to $26.81.

TOPICS:

A growing series of reports, each focused on a key discussion point for the energy sector, brought to you by the Energy News Bulletin Intelligence team.

A growing series of reports, each focused on a key discussion point for the energy sector, brought to you by the Energy News Bulletin Intelligence team.

editions

ENB CCS Report 2024

ENB’s CCS Report 2024 finds that CCS could be the much-needed magic bullet for Australia’s decarbonisation drive

editions

ENB Cost Report 2023

ENB’s latest Cost Report findings provide optimism as investments in oil and gas, as well as new energy rise.

editions

ENB Future of Energy Report 2023

ENB’s inaugural Future of Energy Report details the industry outlook on the medium-to-long-term future for the sector in the Asia Pacific region.

editions

ENB Cost Report 2021

This industry-wide report aims to understand current cost levels across the energy industry