INDONESIAN EXPLORATION PLANS FIRMED UP
March 16, 1999
Continental Energy Corporation (Continental) announces that its wholly owned Indonesian operating unit Apex (Bengara-II) Ltd. has completed its reconnaissance phase seismic mapping of over 2,800 line kilometers of good quality 2D seismic covering the 1.2 million acre Bengara-II block onshore East Kalimantan, Indonesia.
Geological and geophysical investigations conducted by the Companys Jakarta based exploration staff have resulted in the identification of 15 plays, 27 prospects, 6 leads and over 300 seismic anomaly leads. Of the 27 prospects the Company considers 15 of them drillable without need for additional seismic delineation. Estimates of the potential petroleum resources contained in the drillable prospects are currently being made by the Company and by the Companys independent engineers.
The Companys chief geophysicist, Jim Haebig, said from Jakarta, Ive been making seismic interpretations of international oil exploration properties since 1963. The Bengara-II block offers a variety of potential drilling targets. There are onshore, offshore, swamp locations; oil only, gas only and both oil and gas prospects; shallow drilling prospects less than 3,000 feet, medium range ones and deep ones over 15,000 feet; structural traps of every description, stratigraphic traps and plentiful seismic DHIs (direct hydrocarbon indications) all in fifteen different plays or geologic settings conducive to petroleum accumulation.
The Bengara-II PSC contract area lies astride the delta of the Bulungan River, a promising place to explore for oil and gas. The Makapan-#1 well drilled within the contract area from a barge in 6 ft water depth on the delta in 1988 tested 19.3 Million cubic feet per day of gas plus 600 barrels per day condensate. A small shallow oil field, the Galiadap Field, was discovered in the southern onshore portion of the contract area circa 1915 and produced for a few years but records of the fields production history were lost during World War II. A Company geological field party surveying the area last year was able to find and identify four of the original 1915 wellbores, two of which were actively leaking crude oil from rusted casing.
Richard L. McAdoo, company director and president of the Indonesian operating unit, said from Jakarta, We are very encouraged by the reconnaissance mapping results. We intend to focus our efforts first on a large structure underlying the oil seeps from the Galiadap Field wells and later on appraising what appears to be a sizable gas accumulation in the delta proven at Makapan-#1 well. Access to the Galiadap area prospects is easy and we have five separate stand-alone prospects located on the large structure which can most economically be tested in a single drilling campaign of five wells. We are discussing possible farm-ins with other oil companies and are also discussing a drilling for equity deal with a major drilling contractor.
Apex (Bengara-II) Ltd.s sole asset is a 100% interest in a Production Sharing Contract (PSC) with Pertamina, the state oil company of Indonesia, for oil and gas exploration and production rights for 30 years for the 1.2 million acre Bengara-II contract area located mostly onshore but partially offshore, on the east coast of the island of Kalimantan, Indonesia. The Company purchased 100% of the shares of Apex (Bengara-II) Ltd. effective August of 1998.
Continental is an oil and gas exploration and production company focused on properties in Indonesia and the state of Texas.
BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF CONTINENTAL ENERGY CORPORATION
Gary R. Schell,P.Eng
President
Continental Energy Corporation. |
