Coastal Energy spuds first Songkhla development well

LONDON: Coastal Energy Co. spudded the Songkhla A-01 well Oct. 8 in its 100-percent-owned Block G5/43 offshore Thailand. Songkhla A-01 is the first well in the company's development program of the Songkhla field. Coastal is drilling the well using Premium Drilling-managed jackup Deep Driller 7.

Coastal plans to drill four wells on the main Songkhla field and conduct production testing using natural flow and electric submersible pumps. Testing of the initial Songkhla A-01 well is expected to begin prior to the end of October.

The company plans to drill Songkhla A-01 to a total depth of approximately 8,500 feet (2,590 m) true vertical depth. The well is a direct offset to the original Songkhla No. 1 well, which was drilled in 1988 and tested at 1,500 b/d of oil from 80 feet (24 m) of net oil pay in the Lower Oligocene formation. A "competent persons report" prepared by Huddleston and Co. Inc. estimates the proven and probable reserves in the main Songkhla feature to be 4.9 million barrels.