Mubadala spuds Manora wells 4 and 5

Mubadala Petroleum, operator of the Manora oil development offshore Thailand, has spudded the fourth and fifth of 15 planned development wells, MNA-04 and MNA-05.

Using the Atwood Orca jack-up drilling rig MNA-03 has been  drilled to the final target depth, Tap Oil, a partner in the block has informed.

The MNA-04 and MNA-05 wells will be drilled to final target depths of 3,430m and 1,934m  measured depth respectively and MNA-05 will be completed with electric submersible  pumps (ESPs) ahead of handover to Production.

MNA-04 is the first of the five planned  water injector wells.  The Manora A platform is located within the Gulf of Thailand in 46 metres of water.

The development drilling program calls for drilling and completion of 15 wells (10 producers and  5 injectors), with the program expected to take until the end of Q1 2015.

Production at  Manora is now expected to start in the second half of October, rather than at the end  of the third quarter 2014.  Tap has 2P reserves of 6.1 mmbbls (20.2 mmbbls gross) and 2C contingent resources of 3.2  mmbbls (10.9 mmbbls gross) booked for Manora.

Tap said it would review those reserves and contingent resources following development drilling and  production performance.