Oil Search’s Muruk field ‘can supply gas for LNG trains’

OIL Search Ltd’s Muruk field can be a valuable source of gas either to support new LNG trains or for backfill for the PNG LNG Project, says managing-director Peter Botten.
He said the Muruk 2 appraisal well in Hela commenced drilling last November and was expected to reach the target reservoir shortly.
“Muruk 2 is currently at a depth of 3510 metres and preparing to drill into the target Toro reservoir,” Botten said. “Located 11km north-west of the Muruk 1 discovery well, Muruk 2 will assist in constraining the potential resource volumes in the Muruk field.”
Botten said this on the release of the company’s Dec 31 fourth quarter and the 2018 full year report.
“To further mature the lead and prospect inventory in this area, the acquisition of a second phase of seismic, covering approximately 100km over Muruk and an adjacent prospect, is being planned for late 2019/early 2020,” he said.
Botten said during the quarter, the company completed two seismic acquisition programmes, covering approximately 380km, in the onshore Papuan Gulf
Basin and Forelands region of PNG.
“This was one of the largest onshore seismic programmes in the company’s history and, despite extremely challenging conditions, was completed on behalf of two of the world’s largest oil and gas companies at a very competitive cost with zero lost time incidents,” he said.
“Preliminary interpretation of the data from these surveys has been encouraging, highlighting the strong prospectivity of these areas, and is being used to mature several identified leads and prospects for potential future drilling.”