Baron Oil receives initial products from Chuditch 3D seismic reprocessing

Baron Oil’s Timor-Leste subsidiary SundaGas Banda Unipessoal has received interim products from the seismic reprocessing of 1,270 km² of 3D seismic data along the trend of the Chuditch-1 gas discovery.

The reprocessing work is being conducted by TGS-NOPEC Geophysical Company (TGS) at its UK processing center, in collaboration with Baron’s technical team.

Processed to an interim pre-stack depth migration, this initial data is already providing encouraging indications of improvement in the quality of subsurface imaging around the Chuditch gas discovery and offset prospects, compared to the legacy data, Baron Oil said.

Interpretations from the data will now be used to feedback iteratively into the final sophisticated seismic processing, which remains on schedule, with final data delivery expected during Q2 2022.

According to the company, the final processed version will be critical in the re-evaluation of the Chuditch discovery and surrounding prospectivity, particularly the evaluation of in-place volumes and the location of potential future wells.

An investor webinar on the Chuditch asset is planned for January 2022 and will include an updated technical overview and discussion of the overall commercial context of the project, including potential gas export options.

“The delivery of the initial products from the 3D seismic reprocessing is a significant milestone in our re-evaluation of the Chuditch trend. To date, encouraging improvements have been observed in data quality which we are confident will lead to a substantially clearer subsurface image in the final reprocessed products,” said Jon Ford, technical director of Baron.

“In parallel, we continue with other studies which, when combined with the seismic reprocessing, will deliver a complete and high quality technical and commercial evaluation of this exciting asset during 2022.”

The Chuditch-1 gas is part of the Chuditch PSC (TL-SO-19-16 license), which is located some 185 kilometers south of Timor-Leste and covers around 3,571 square kilometers in water depths of 50-100 meters.

In June, Baron Oil bought the remaining 15% stake in SundaGas Timor-Leste, the parent company of SundaGas Banda Unipessoal which is the operator of and a 75% interest holder in the Chuditch PSC.

Before the acquisition, the UK-based oil and gas company held a 63.75% stake in the Chuditch PSC.