Baron Oil secures extension for Chuditch PSC offshore Timor-Leste
London-listed Baron Oil on December 5 announced an extension to contract year two of the production sharing contract (PSC) for the Chuditch PSC, located offshore Timor-Leste.
The extension, granted by the Autoridade Nacional do Petróleo (ANP), Timor-Leste’s national petroleum authority, extends the PSC term until June 2024. This provides Baron Oil’s wholly owned subsidiary, SundaGas Banda Unipessoal, the PSC operator, with additional time to finalise drilling plans for the planned Chuditch-2 appraisal well.
SundaGas has completed all work programme commitments to date, gaining an understanding of the PSC contract area’s resource potential and identifying a suitable location for the Chuditch-2 appraisal well. The extension will allow SundaGas to seamlessly transition into contract year three and initiate drilling operations in a timely manner, Baron said.
The Chuditch PSC is located approximately 185 km south of Timor-Leste, 100 km east of the producing Bayu-Undan field, and 50 km south of the planned Greater Sunrise development. It covers an area of approximately 3,571 km2, in water depths of 50-100 m, and contains the Chuditch-1 gas discovery drilled by Shell in 1998.
According to Baron, the Chuditch PSC holds an estimated gross unrisked resources of 1.1bn barrels of recoverable oil equivalent. The Chuditch-2 appraisal well is expected to be drilled towards the end of 2024, aiming to further delineate the resource potential and pave the way for potential field development.
Baron said it is actively engaging with potential funding partners to secure the necessary financing for the Chuditch-2 appraisal well. Last month the company secured the environmental approval for the drilling and testing of an appraisal well in the Chuditch PSC.