‘Santos submitted a proposal of work programme to drill a well in Magnama with an investment of $4 million’
Australian oil and gas exploration company Santos is set to drill a new well in Magnama structure under the shallow Block 16 in the Bay of Bengal for fossil fuels after it activities were for shut down for a year.
“Santos submitted a proposal of work programme to drill a well in Magnama with an investment of $4 million,” a general manager of Petrobangla told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.
On October 1, 2013, Sangu, the first offshore gas field under the shallow Block 16 operated by Santos, shut down permanently after its reserves ran out fast.
Sangu was discovered by British oil-and-gas firm Cairn in 1996, who handed over the ownership with assess and liabilities to Dutch company Shell in 1998.
After a steady production of gas for six years from Sangu, Shell gave all of its upstream assets and undertakings back to Cairn Energy in 2004.
On October 2007, Santos acquired a 37.5% interest from Cairn Energy in the Sangu Development Area, and a 50% interest in Block 16 exploration acreage, located in the Bay of Bengal.
In December 2010, Santos acquired the remainder of Cairn’s interests in Bangladesh and became operator of the acreage.
Santos is considering to conduct 3D seismic surveys and drill another exploration well at the Magnama structure in the Bay of Bengal, 60 km (37 miles) south of the port of Chittagong.
The currently mapped mean gas initial in place (GIIP) for Magnama is 1.6 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) with considerable further upside in flank plays (2.1tcf). The water depth of Magnama ranges from onshore Kutubdia Island to 20 meters.
One discovery well was drilled in the Block-16 exploration area in 2007-08 by Santos’ predecessor Cairn Energy, subsequent to which Santos acquired 213 square-kilometres, transition zone and onshore 3D seismic early in 2010.
Interpretation of the survey indicated that the Magnama consists of a number of stacked structural-stereographic reservoirs with at least four zones marginally intersected in the Magnama-1 discovery well.
Santos earlier said it was keen to retain exploration rights over the offshore Magnama structure.
On March 12, 2014, Bangladesh signed a production-sharing contract with a joint venture of Australia-based Santos and Singapore-based Kris Energy to start oil and gas exploration in offshore shallow Block 11 in the Bay of Bengal.
The contract period for the block is eight year, with the first five years for initial exploration and the rest for subsequent exploration.
Source: Dhaka Tribune
