Valeura Energy Inc. (TSX:VLE, OTCQX:VLERF) ("Valeura" or the "Company"), an upstream oil and gas company with assets in the Gulf of Thailand and the Thrace Basin of Türkiye, is pleased to announce the successful completion of an infill drilling campaign at Nong Yao A and the start of development drilling on the Nong Yao C extension, both part of the Nong Yao oil field (90% operated working interest), offshore Gulf of Thailand.
Sean Guest, President and CEO commented:
"I am pleased with the results of our new Nong Yao A wells, which further illustrate the potential of our assets to add volumes through ongoing infill drilling. 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 programme.
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.
We remain focused on safe and sustainable growth, and I am pleased to note that our drilling operations have achieved an important safety record, logging one full year of work without a lost time injury. We remain committed to delivering a top tier health, safety, and environmental performance across all our operations."
Nong Yao A Infill Wells
Valeura has drilled two production-oriented horizontal wells at the Nong Yao A wellhead platform, which were both successful and have 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 bbls/d of oil(1), based on performance over the past ten days. In addition, the well encountered 68 feet of net oil pay across eight separate appraisal target intervals. These zones will now be further evaluated as targets for potential future development wells, and once developed, may add further producible volumes to the asset.
The 38H well has been completed as a horizontal producer in the H4.3 reservoir interval and is currently contributing approximately 1,000 bbls/d of oil(1), based on performance over the past five days. A thin oil-bearing sand was encountered in the shallower H2.0 sand interval and will also be studied to determine additional producible volumes.
Nong Yao C Development
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, being 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 bbls/d, approximately a 50% increase over the 7,307 bbls/d reported for Q1 2024(1).