Soco: Development drilling starts at TGT field offshore Vietnam

Project & Tenders

Soco International, a London-listed oil and gas exploration and production company, has started the 2016 development drilling program on the Te Giac Trang (TGT) Field in Block 16-1 offshore southern Vietnam.

TGT field is located some 80 kilometers from Vung Tau. Block 16-1 is operated by Hoang Long Joint Operating Company in which partners Soco International, PetroVietnam, and PTTEP hold interest.

Soco said on Monday that two infill wells, the TGT-27P and TGT-28P, would be batch drilled with the first well already spudded on November 6 by PetroVietnam Drilling’s PVD-6 jack-up rig on the H4-Well Head Platform (WHP) in the central area of the TGT Field.

The company also said that TGT partners are considering adding a further two infill wells on the H5-WHP following the completion of these wells.

Development talks underway

The TGT Full Field Development Plan (FFDP) discussions are in the final stages ahead of formal submission to the relevant authorities. The FFDP includes additional wells and facilities options to increase total fluid-handling capacity. Final submission to the Vietnamese Government is expected after the upcoming Management Committee meetings next week.

Ed Story, the President and CEO of Soco, said: “We are delighted to commence the first development drilling program on TGT since early 2015. Meanwhile, we continue to focus on enhancing the field water-handling capacity and arresting the field decline.”

Soco’s production guidance range for 2016 has been 10-11,500 BOEPD. Due to the lack of drilling during the year, additional downtime associated with pressure-testing on the Ca Ngu Vang Field, along with the recent stoppage for rig positioning and well intervention work beyond that originally planned, production rates for the full year are expected to be at the lower end of the expected range.

The TGT field was first discovered in 2005 and was the first commercial discovery on Block 16-1.  Production began in 2011. More than 30 wells have been drilled, and the field is currently producing from three platforms, which have a total of 26 producing wells and one injector well.

Oil from TGT is transported by a subsea pipeline to a nearby FPSO vessel where it is processed and then exported by tanker to regional oil refineries. Gas from TGT is processed at nearby facilities and transported by pipeline to shore to supply the Vietnamese domestic market.

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