Ophir completes wildcat exploration in Gulf of Thailand

BANGKOK, Thailand -- Ophir Energy plc has completed operations on the G4/50-11 wildcat exploration in the South Western Graben of the Gulf of Thailand. The well was the second in Ophir's 2015 exploration drilling programme in the G4/50 licence and targeted the Parichat Southwest prospect. The G4/50-11 well reached a total depth of 2,830 m (TVD subsea) and encountered oil in both the primary Oligocene and secondary Miocene reservoir targets.

Overall, the well encountered an aggregate 5.5 m of net oil pay, but the discovery is considered to be below the economic threshold for a commercial discovery. This discovery has confirmed, for the first time, the existence of an active hydrocarbon system in this previously undrilled South Western Graben. The well also encountered a greater thickness of reservoir sands than expected pre-drilling, which is an encouraging result for the future exploration of this basin.

A comprehensive wireline logging process was completed, including the recovery of oil samples from both reservoir intervals.

The G4/50-11 well will now be plugged and abandoned and a detailed analysis of the well data will be conducted. This analysis will determine whether the multiple analogous prospects nearby have been sufficiently de-risked to warrant exploration drilling in 2016.

The rig will now move to the Bualuang Alpha platform to drill a water disposal well. This is part of the project to increase the water handling capacity at Bualuang, thus alleviating a potential production bottleneck.