Eni Drills, Tests Merakes Discovery Offshore Indonesia

Eni successfully drilled and tested Merakes 2, the first appraisal well of the Merakes discovery under the production-sharing contract (PSC) in East Sepinggan offshore Indonesia, according to a news release.

The block is in the prolific offshore Kutei Basin, and the Merakes discovery is 35 km (22 miles) from the Eni-operated Jangkrik Field, which is expected to start producing through a floating production unit in second-quarter 2017.

The well, drilled to a depth of 2,732 m (8,963 ft) in 1,269 m (4,163 ft) of water, encountered 17 m (56 ft) of clean Pliocene sands, confirming the extension in this new area of the 2014 discovery by the Merakes 1 well, Eni said.

The production test recorded the Merakes reservoir’s gas deliverability. Merakes could have 57 Bcm (2 Tcf) of gas in place.

Eni is the operator of East Sepinggan PSC, with its affiliate Eni East Sepinggan Ltd. holding 85% participating interest and Pertamina Hulu Energy holding the remaining 15%.

TGS Undertakes Norwegian Sea Atlantic Margin 3-D Multiclient Project

TGS said Jan. 19 that its first new multiclient acquisition project in 2017 will be a 3-D survey of AM17 Atlantic Margin in the Norwegian Sea.

AM17 is a 40,000-sq-km (15,444-sq-mile) project in the central-southern Norwegian Sea, and the single largest 3-D survey done by any company in Northern Europe, covering open blocks in an underexplored area with limited drilling to date.

Play models include rotated Jurassic and Cretaceous fault blocks and stratigraphic and structural traps in Paleocene and Cretaceous turbidite/fan deposits.

Acquisition will likely begin in May 2017 and will continue over multiple seasons. TGS will use its Clari-Fi broadband technology and advanced denoise and demultiple techniques for data processing.

This survey is supported by industry funding, TGS said.

In a separate press release on Jan. 20 from EMGS, it was reported that EMGS and TGS will expand their Barents Sea cooperation agreement, with TGS investing in a 3-D controlled-source electromagnetic data acquisition project related to the 24th licensing round in Norway.

TGS’ contribution will be booked as a reduction of the carrying value of EMGS’ multiclient library.

The above agreements total $2 million and will be recognized during first-quarter 2017, EMGS said.

—Staff Reports