Indonesian Gas Field Gets Major Resource Boost
An independent audit has confirmed a significant resource upgrade for the offshore Mako gas field in the West Natuna basin in Indonesia, junior project partners Coro Energy and Empyrean said in London stock filings on May 26.
In April the field's Singapore-registered operator Conrad Petroleum reassessed Mako's best-estimate contingent, recoverable gas resources at 493bn ft3 (14bn m3), marking a 79% increase from the estimate made by Gaffney Cline & Associates (GCA) in January 2019. This revision came after Conrad and its partners sank two appraisal wells at Mako last year that discovered well-developed, high-quality reservoirs.
GCA has now completed a new assessment that places Mako's best-case resources at 495bn ft3, confirming Conrad's optimism. Mako's low-case and high-case resources are also estimated by GCA at 287bn and 817bn ft3 respectively, up 56% and 108% from the consultant's figures in January 2019.
"We are encouraged by the resulting new asset value uplift and see very material upside exposure for shareholders as sentiment in the oil/gas sector begins its recovery," Coro's chairman James Parsons said.
Mako lies near the West Natuna pipeline system, enabling the field's gas to be marketed to buyers in both Indonesia and Singapore. A heads of agreement with a gas buyer in Singapore has already been signed, and the project's partners hope to take a final investment decision on Mako once a supply contract has been finalised.