Buru to restart Ungani oil field onshore Western Australia

Buru Energy Ltd., Perth, has restarted production from Ungani oil field in the onshore Canning basin south of Broome in Western Australia.

Buru Energy says oil from the field will be trucked north to Wyndham Port where Cambridge Gulf Ltd. (CGL) will store it in its 80,000-bbl tank. From there, it will be exported by ship to nearby markets as well as South East Asia.

Earlier production from the field was stored in Wyndham in a smaller 30,000-bbl tank. Buru says the larger storage capacity brings significant economies of scale and commercial benefits through access to larger ships on spot charter rather than the previously used smaller time charter vessels.

Planned modifications to the larger tank also will help streamline the storage system and reduce operating costs.

Buru says the timing of the recommencement of production from Ungani will depend on CGL returning the storage tank from diesel service and the required modifications that entails, but the target is to bring the field back on stream by midyear.

Minor modifications at the field also will be undertaken prior to start-up. The field will be on natural flow initially at a target rate of 1,200 b/d. Electrical submersible pumps will be installed later this year to maintain and potentially increase production rates.