New gas discovery deemed as ‘major development’ for Southeast Asia

Abu Dhabi-headquartered energy company Mubadala Energy has made a significant gas discovery offshore North Sumatra, Indonesia, using one of Seadrill’s drillships.

While announcing a new gas discovery at the Layaran-1 exploration well, drilled in South Andaman, about 100 kilometers offshore North Sumatra with the potential for over 6 TCF of gas-in-place, Mubadala Energy explains that the discovery marks “a major development” for the Southeast Asia energy landscape. The well was drilled with Seadrill’s West Capella drillship, based on the information from Mubadala Energy.

The Layaran-1 well encountered an extensive gas column with a thickness of over 230 meters in an Oligocene sandstone reservoir. The Abu Dhabi-based player is the operator of the South Andaman Gross Split PSC with an 80% stake while Harbour Energy holds the remaining 20%. This is the firm’s first operated deepwater well, which has been drilled to a depth of 4,208 meters in 1,207 meters of water depth.

Furthermore, the positive outcome from the Layaran-1 discovery will de-risk the multi-TCF of prospective gas resources in the area, providing the foundation for future organic growth and additional exploration drilling activities in 2024. A complete data acquisition including wireline, coring, sampling, and production test (DST) was conducted. The well flowed over 30 mmscf/d of excellent gas quality.

Mansoor Mohamed Al Hamed, CEO of Mubadala Energy, commented: “With our strategy to expand our gas portfolio to support the energy transition, this development offers material commercial opportunities and adds momentum to our strategic growth story. This is not only a significant development for Mubadala Energy but a huge milestone for Indonesia’s and Southeast Asia’s energy security. We are proud to have achieved this by leveraging our world-class technical and operational capabilities.”

This newly confirmed discovery is the second consecutive successful well for Mubadala Energy in the Andaman area, coming after the success of Timpan-1 (Harbour operator, 40%) in Andaman-II, which itself came after the success at Cengkih-1 in SK320 in Malaysia. These discoveries add material contingent volume and provide a platform for continued growth for Mubadala Energy in the region.

While confirming the discovery at the Layaran-1 well, Harbour Energy highlighted that the well was the first in a four-well exploration campaign targeting the same Oligocene play as the Timpan-1 well drilled on Andaman II in 2022. The Harbour-operated Halwa and Gayo wells on Andaman II are next on the rig’s drilling agenda.