Timor Leste's oil and gas authority Autoridade Nacional do Petróleo (ANP) has officially signed off on the award of a Petroleum Sharing Contract (PSC) to Kazakhstan-headquartered HTS Exploration (HTS).

The PSC for onshore Block F includes a clause for Timor-Leste to participate in the petroleum operations through the national oil company Timor Gap E.P. - either through the exploration or development phases.

The minimum exploration work program for the block is:

• Year 1: Re-entering existing wells in the contract crea, performing cased hole logging, well integrity studies, geological and geophysical data analysis and evaluation.

• Year 2: Acquiring 3D seismic or 3,325 meters 3D vertical seismic profiling (VSP), 100-line kilometres of 2D seismic acquisition and processing, well testing, acidizing, and fluid chemistry analysis.

• Year 3: Drilling two exploration wells which shall be delivered either through one sidetrack and one new well, or two sidetracks, or two new wells if sidetracking is technically unviable; with a minimum total depth of 2000m true vertical depth (TVD) or 2000m measured depth (MD) for sidetrack wells.

Through Timor-Leste Second Licensing Round 2019/2022, HTS showed an expression of interest by submitting their bid for Block F. After the competitive bid and the assessment of the bid, HTS was announced as the Bid winner for Block F in 2022, paving the way for negotiating the terms and conditions of the signed PSC.

ANP is responsible of managing and regulating petroleum activities in Timor-Leste area, both offshore and onshore and in the Greater Sunrise Special Regime in accordance with the Decree Law on its establishment, the Timor-Leste Petroleum Activities Law and Maritime Boundary Treaty. 

HTS is an oil and gas exploration and production company based in Kazakhstan which owned numerous oil and gas fields in Kazakhstan including having vast experience in providing exploration and production services in the region.