Santos Bayu-Undan infill well exceeds expectations

Santos Ltd. said production from the first well in an infill drilling program on Bayu-Undan gas-condensate field in the Timor Sea has exceeded pre-drill expectations.

The well, the first in a three-well program, was brought on stream at 178 MMcfd of gas along with 11,350 b/d of liquids.

“We have seen a better-than-expected reservoir outcome with this first well of the campaign with successful results across both the primary and secondary targets in the well and a much higher initial gas production rate than expected,” said Kevin Gallagher, managing director, chief executive officer, Santos.

Bayu-Undan, 250 km west of Suai in East Timor and 500 km northwest of the Northern Territory in Australia, was discovered by ConocoPhillips in 1995 in a permit originally within the Zone of Cooperation (Timor Gap) between East Timor and Australia. Since the redrawing of the maritime boundary, it is now in East Timor’s jurisdiction and governed by a production sharing contract.

The field supplies gas to the Santos-operated LNG plant in Darwin and is recognized to be in its declining years. Nevertheless, success with the first well in the current Phase 3C infill program has increased gas supply capacity to the LNG operation and increased overall liquids production from the field to more than 25,000 b/d.

The Noble Tom Prosser jack up rig has started drilling the second of the three wells with the program scheduled for completion early in 2022.

Santos is operator of the field with 40% interest. Partners are E&S has 25%, Inpex 11.4%, ENI 11%, Jera 6.1%, and Tokyo Gas 3.1%.