Talisman steers Hoa Mai entry - Canadian company finalising plan for field development off Vietnam
Upstream, June 25
By Russell Searancke
Canadian independent Talisman Energy is finalising a field development plan prior to inviting front-end engineering companies to bid for work on its firstfield off Vietnam.
The Hoa Mai field, which was discovered last November, lies adjacent to the Talisman-operated PM-3 commercial arrangement area offshore production facilities in Malaysia/Vietnam.
The basecase development scenario for the field was a small wellhead platform and about 10.5 kilometres of subsea pipeline to the existing PM-3 CAA Bunga Kekwa C platform.
Companies such as Technip, Aker Kvaerner, Frontier Engineering and Worley could be invited to bid for an engineering and design contract once Talisman has finalised the field layout.
General manager for Talisman Malaysia, Nick Walker, said Hoa Mai would be “a simple development with one or two production wells”.
He added that first gas would start in 2005 if Talisman solved certain commercial issues, including where Hoa Mai gas would be sold.
Last November, Talisman successfully tested the Hoa Mai prospect in Vietnam offshore block 46-Cai Nuoc with the Hoa Mai-1X exploration well.
The probe, drilled by the jack-up Ensco 57, hit a 16-metre gas column in high-quality Miocene-aged channel sandstones.
The well was tested and flowed at a rate of 34 million cubic feet per day of gas at a 76/64-inch choke with 1300 pounds per square inch tubing head pressure and was constrained by surface testing equipment.
Hoa Mai is estimated to contain between 70 billion cubic feet and 100 Bcf of recoverable gas reserves.
Walker said no appraisal drilling was needed at Hoa Mai because there was enough reservoir certainty from the discovery well.
Last November, Talisman chief executive Jim Buckee heralded the discovery. “This is an excellent result from Talisman's first exploration well in Vietnam,” Buckee said.
“This success further reinforces our belief in the upside potential of the area and demonstrates that our strategy for the area is working.”
Talisman is operator and holds a 33.15% interest in block 46-Cai Nuoc with Petronas Carigali on 36.85% and PetroVietnam Investment & Development Company holding 30%.
The trio acquired the block in October 2001. Part of the area and part of the PM-3 CAA off Malaysia/Vietnam were unitised in 1998 to become the East Bunga Kekwa-Cai Nuoc field. |
