Discovery of Oil and Gas Reserves Offshore Lhokseumawe
The Government Cooperation Contract Contractor (KKKS), Pertamina Hulu Energi (PHE) North Sumatra Offshore (NSO), which is part of Pertamina Regional Sumatra Upstream Subholding, has again discovered hydrocarbons in the form of gas and condensate through the drilling of the NSO-XLLL1ST exploration well offshore Lhokseumawe City, Aceh Province.
The drilling of this exploratory well was carried out by PT Pertamina Hulu Rokan (PHR) Regional Sumatra with the main objective being the limestone of the Malacca Formation. The well was drilled with a vertical/sidetrack profile using the Essar-Wildcat semi-submersible rig. The NSO XLLL1ST well was drilled on 30 December 2022 and reached a final depth of 4983 feet measured depth (ftMD) on 6 March 2023.
After conducting a series of evaluations of formation properties using e-line logging tools, PHE NSO then proposes 3 Drill Stem Test (DST) intervals. The NSO-XLLL1ST well managed to find gaseous hydrocarbons in the DST#1 layer test with a gas rate of 1.7 mmscfd, DST#2 with a gas rate of 6.68 mmsfcd, as well as gas and condensate in the DST#3 layer test with a gas rate of 12.65 MMSCFD and condensate rate 33.6 BCPD.
Deputy President for Sumatra Regional PHR Exploration, Dwi Mandhiri, explained the status as of 16 May 2023, the NSO-XLLL1ST well had completed the last temporary P&A cement plug, after which it is planned for the next 24 hours to be continued with SSBOP and riser unlatch. "Hydrocarbons in the NSO-XLLL1ST well are full to spill over to the structure, so there is potential for accumulation of hydrocarbons in reservoirs that are in higher structures, therefore further studies will be carried out to obtain new prospects," he said in a written statement.
In a separate place, the Head of SKK Migas Representative for North Sumatra, Rikky Rahmat Firdaus, said that the successful drilling of the NSO-XLLL1ST exploration well in the PHE NSO Work Area is a concrete manifestation of the PSC's commitment to the coast of Aceh in finding reserves and increasing oil and gas production in Indonesia.
"We appreciate Pertamina for this achievement. After the discovery of these reserves, a temporary P&A will be carried out and after that, PHE NSO will submit a POD (the plan of development) prior to field development. The process towards production certainly still requires time and in-depth studies and studies first from the SKK Migas and PHE NSO technical teams," said Rikky.
The discovery of these reserves is also an important part of the government's program in the national energy sector to achieve the gas production target of 12 billion standard cubic feet per day (BSCFD) and oil production of 1 million barrels per day in 2030. []
