Coastal Energy Company reports successful appraisal drilling success from the Oligocene and Eocene reservoirs at the Songkhla field in the Gulf of Thailand.

The Songkhla A-09 well was drilled to 8,109 feet true vertical depth and encountered 140 feet of net pay in the Lower Oligocene Wedge reservoir with average porosity of 15%. The well also encountered 75 feet of net pay in the underlying Eocene reservoir analogous to that seen in the Songkhla A-07 well, which had 16.5% porosity and initially flow tested 1,100 bopd. The A-09 well also pushed down underlying he lowest known oil in the Eocene by 105 feet.

The A-09 well is approximately 330 feet up structure from the Songkhla A-08 well in the Lower Oligocene. Prior to the A-09, the Songkhla A-08 well was the easternmost well on the structure, which supported the existence of the Lower Oligocene Wedge. Pressures in the A-09 approximate the original reservoir pressure at Songkhla Main therefore indicating that there has been no depletion of the Lower Oligocene Wedge from the Main reservoir.

The Company has now spudded the Songkhla A-12 well, which will further appraise the Lower Oligocene Wedge.

Fracture testing of Eocene reservoir in the Bua Ban A-04 well remains on schedule to begin in mid-December.

Randy Bartley, Chief Executive Officer of Coastal Energy, commented, 'The A-09 well results have confirmed our prognosis of the Lower Oligocene Wedge reservoir at Songkhla. The well encountered an Oligocene pay zone which was thicker than anticipated and of thickness and porosity comparable to A-08 well, which has been the best performing well at Songkhla to date. The shows in the Eocene reservoir are also promising as the porosity is comparable to the A-07 well which had an initial production flow of over 1100 bopd.

'The Company experienced some weather delays in late October and early November forcing us to shut in production; however, production is being brought back online and we expect to return to pre-shutdown levels (excluding any production from the three new Songkhla wells) of approximately 10,000 bopd. We plan to tie in production from these new wells prior to moving onto our high impact exploration drilling at Bua Ban North.'

Tags: Coastal Energy