Oil and gas company Carnarvon Energy has spudded the Buffalo-10 well in an attempt to confirm sufficient hydrocarbons to support economic development on the namesake field in the Timor Sea.

The company said that the Valaris-owned JU-107 jack-up drilling rig started operations at the Buffalo-10 well to test for the presence of commercial quantities of high-quality light oil that is expected to lead to the early redevelopment of the Buffalo field. The estimated time to drill and complete the well is around 35 days.

It is worth mentioning that the drilling of the well started following delays due to the rig’s prior engagements.

Since arriving at the Buffalo-10 well location, the rig has concluded preparations for drilling and has drilled the top hole section following a slight delay caused by a tropical weather system. The current operation involves the installation and cementing of the conductor which provides the structural foundation for the well.

Carnarvon added that the top hole section was drilled down to around 400 feet and current operations involve running and cementing the conductor before drilling the 17 1/2” hole.

Once the surface casing has been cemented in place, the rig will drill the 17 1/2” hole to a planned section depth of around 2,600 feet Measured Depth (MD), followed by setting the 13 3/8” casing. Following this, the well is planned to drill the 12 1/4” hole section to approximately 9,200 feet MD before setting the 9 5/8” casing. The company believes that no hydrocarbons will be intersected in these drilling sections.

The Buffalo-10 well is being drilled offshore Timor-Leste within the TL- SO T19-14 PSC in a water depth of approximately 100 feet with a target depth of approximately 11,500 feet. Carnarvon is the operator of the license while Advance Energy is its partner.

The previous field proved the existence of a very high deliverability reservoir containing high-quality light oil that Carnarvon expects would sell at a premium to Brent in today’s market.

Carnarvon’s mid-case recoverable volume estimate is 31 million barrels (gross, 2C contingent resource). With the minimum economic field size estimated to be significantly lower than the mid-case estimate, there is a strong likelihood the Buffalo-10 well will confirm an economic project.

As such, Carnarvon’s drilling plans provide for the Buffalo-10 well to be the first production well in the redevelopment program.

It is worth reminding that Carnarvon and Valaris signed a deal for the rig back in September of last year, but the oil company was made to wait for months for the rig to arrive at the well location. Prior rig engagements prevented drilling operations to start in October, as was expected.

To contact the author, email bojan.lepic@rigzone.com

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