Mubadala to drill two more wells within Manora drilling campaign

UAE-based oil company Mubadala Petroleum will drill two development wells as part of its Manora drilling campaign in the Gulf of Thailand, in addition to already planned exploration and appraisal wells. 

The Manora field is operated by Mubadala Petroleum with a 60% interest and Tap Oil is its partner with a 30% interest.

Tap Oil last week revealed that the joint venture partners had approved the drilling of an exploration well, Manora-8, at the Manora Footwall prospect in the Manora Production Area and a sidetrack well to appraise the 300-500 series reservoirs above and below the productive MNA- 18 490-60 oil pool.

On Monday, May 7 Tap said that two development wells will also be drilled in this campaign after the exploration well Manora-8ST1. The drilling campaign will now target multiple exploration objectives as well as low risk appraisal and development opportunities.

The Manora 2018 drilling campaign is now scheduled to start on or about May 16, 2018, using the Ensco 115 jack-up drilling rig.

According to Tap, the Manora 2018 exploration drilling campaign has the potential to add significant reserves via the conversion of prospective resources to reserves in a success case and near term production, which could generate material value for Tap. These drilling operations represent cost-effective opportunities for Tap to add high margin barrels at Manora with a total estimated cost of $3.6 million (net to Tap) for the entire four well program based on the operator’s AFE estimates.

The four well program comprises of Manora-8 exploration well, Manora-8ST1 appraisal well, MNA-20 development well, and MNA-21 development well.

Exploration

The Manora-8 exploration well well will test the Footwall prospect, a large area of closure of up to 1,215 acres on the upthrown side of the Manora field bounding fault. Manora-8 exploration well offers a low-cost high-risk/high reward opportunity which has the potential to rejuvenate the Manora project in the success case. The key risks are reservoir and charge.

The planned TD of the well is 6,420ft TVDSS. The well will be plugged and abandoned with a future development well to be planned in the success case. The cost of the well is estimated to be $3.1 million gross, inclusive of additional logging in the success case.

Appraisal

Manora-8ST will be sidetracked from Manora-8 primarily to appraise the 300 to 500 series reservoirs in the eastern fault block at the crest of the structure approximately 500-800m south of MNA-18. The side-track will also provide a pilot for ongoing development of the MNA-18, 490-60 oil pool.

The 300 reservoir is equivalent to the oil discovered interval and the 500 reservoir target is equivalent to the producing interval in the Manora platform. The well was planned using the latest 3D seismic PDSM reflectivity datasets which were processed in 2017.

The planned TD of the well is 5,950ft TVDSS. The cost of the well is estimated to be $943,000 gross.

Development

Following Manora-8ST1, the rig will move adjacent to the Manora platform for the development drilling program. The primary objective of the MNA-20 development well is to produce attic and bypassed oil in the 490-60 reservoir in the Eastern fault block approximately 460m south of MNA-18.

In the event that either Manora-8 or Manora-8ST1 is successful, MNA-20 will be deepened to appraise the 500 sands in the Eastern Fault block or the footwall reservoir. The planned TD of the well is 5,500ft TVDSS or 6,900ft TVDSS.

MNA-20 will be completed as a cased and perforated multiple zone producer in the 490-60 reservoirs and brought onto immediate production. The operator has estimated the initial production rate is expected to be 1,450 bopd using an ESP for artificial lift.

The cost of the well is estimated to be $4 million gross.

The primary objective of the MNA-21 development well is to produce bypassed and attic oil from the 490-60 reservoir in the Eastern fault block approximately 340m north of MNA-18.

In the event that Manora-8 is successful, MNA-21 will be deepened to appraise the footwall reservoir. The planned TD of the well is 7,000ft TVDSS.

MNA-21 will be completed as a cased and perforated multiple zone producer in the 490-60 reservoirs and brought onto immediate production. The initial production rate is expected to be 1,000 bopd using an ESP for artificial lift.

The cost of the well, excluding deepening, is estimated to be $3.8 million gross.