Southeast Asian gas drilling ops edging closer with ‘major milestone’ reached

March 10, 2026, by Melisa Cavcic

With an environmental license (EL) now in hand, the UK-based and AIM-listed Sunda Energy, formerly Baron Oil, is closing in on its planned drilling campaign on a gas field off the coast of Timor-Leste, Southeast Asia.

An offshore rig — Illustration; Source: Sunda Energy, former Baron Oil

SundaGas submitted its final environmental impact statement (EIS) and environmental management plan (EMP) documents earlier this year for the Chuditch-2 appraisal well on the Chuditch field in the TL-SO-19-16 production sharing contract (PSC), following an extensive period of consultations with, and feedback from, the upstream regulator, Autoridade Nacional do Petróleo (ANP).

The firm’s wholly owned Timor-Leste subsidiary, SundaGas Banda Unipessoal, which acts as the operator in partnership with its government-owned joint venture partner, Timor Gap Chuditch Unipessoal (Timor Gap), has now been awarded an environmental licence for the drilling of the Chuditch-2 appraisal well.

Following endorsement of the EIS and EMP by ANP’s Evaluation Committee, award of the EL was approved by the Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, and the ‘Category A’ EL was issued to SundaGas on March 9, 2026.

This environmental license is valid until the same date in 2028 and includes certain conditions, principally around submission of a waste management plan to ANP, before operations, and for a post-drilling environmental survey.

Dr. Andy Butler, CEO of Sunda Energy, commented: “Award of the environmental licence for Chuditch-2 is a major milestone in our drilling preparations, and the fruit of considerable survey works, studies, reviews and planning.

“I thank my colleagues and ANP for the strong collaborative efforts that went into preparing the extremely thorough EIS and EMP documents.”