Valeura Energy completed an infill drilling campaign at Nong Yao A and started development drilling on the Nong Yao C extension. Both are part of the Nong Yao oil field, in which Valeura has 90% operated working interest, offshore Gulf of Thailand.
“Drilling these wells now was a nimble move by our team to shore up production rates just before dedicating our rig to the Nong Yao C development drilling program,” said Sean Guest, Valeura President and CEO. “The start of drilling operations at our brand-new Nong Yao C infrastructure marks a significant milestone for our company. This will be the first new development for Valeura in Thailand and is expected to serve as a substantial source of production growth in the second half of this year.”
Mr Guest added that Valeura’s drilling operations also logged one full year of work without a lost-time injury.
Valeura has drilled two production-oriented horizontal wells at the Nong Yao A wellhead platform, which have both been brought online as producers.
The 37H well culminated in a horizontal section within the primary target H12.5 reservoir. That zone has been completed for production and is currently contributing approximately 500 bbl/day of oil, based on performance over a 10-day period in late May. In addition, the well encountered 68 ft of net oil pay across eight separate appraisal target intervals. These zones will be further evaluated as targets for potential future development wells.
The 38H well has been completed as a horizontal producer in the H4.3 reservoir interval and is currently contributing approximately 1,000 bbl/d of oil, based on performance over a five-day period in late May A thin oil-bearing sand was encountered in the shallower H2.0 sand interval and will also be studied to determine additional producible volumes.
The company’s contracted drilling rig has moved to the Nong Yao C mobile offshore production unit, where it has commenced batch drilling operations to develop the Nong Yao C field extension. The drilling campaign is anticipated to take approximately four months and will be comprised of up to nine gross wells – six producer wells and up to three water injectors. Valeura anticipates first oil from the Nong Yao C development in Q3 2024, and thereafter is targeting aggregate peak oil production rates from the expanded Nong Yao field of 11,000 bbl/day, approximately a 50% increase over the 7,307 bbl/day reported for Q1 2024.