Baron gets environmental okay for Chuditch appraisal well offshore Timor-Leste
London-listed energy company Baron Oil has secured the environmental approval for the drilling and testing of an appraisal well in the Chuditch field offshore Timor-Leste, it said on November 30.
The company's wholly-owned subsidiary and operator of the production sharing contract (PSC), SundaGas Banda Unipessoal, has achieved the first step of three in securing environmental approvals for the drilling and testing of an appraisal well on the Chuditch field.
The Timor-Leste government regulator, Autoridade Nacional do Petroleo (ANP), has issued a project classification and requested SundaGas to submit terms of reference, including initial public consultations. SundaGas and its joint venture partner, Timor Gap, and ANP have collaborated on planning for drilling operations.
Baron said it continues to evaluate all potential options for gas export from the Chuditch field in order to be able to fast track the concept selection processes anticipated following a successful Chuditch-2 appraisal well.
The Chuditch PSC is located approximately 185 km south of Timor-Leste, 100 km east of the producing Bayu-Undan field, and 50 km south of the planned Greater Sunrise development. It covers an area of approximately 3,571 km2, in water depths of 50-100 m, and contains the Chuditch-1 gas discovery drilled by Shell in 1998.