Indonesia Energy finds gas while drilling Kruh-28 oil well

Jakarta-based Indonesia Energy Corp (IEC) has “unexpectedly” found evidence of a potential natural gas-bearing reservoir while drilling the Kruh 28 oil well on the Kruh block located onshore Sumatra, the company said on July 12.

IEC has found evidence of a potential natural gas-bearing reservoir between 976 and 1,006 feet intervals with 25 feet net thickness. This initial evidence was supported by both wireline logging and geologic logging data, it said. This gas zone was not encountered in previous oil wells where IEC announced only oil discoveries. IEC commenced drilling for oil at Kruh 28 on June 22.

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“If this zone turns out to be a natural gas discovery, it could add significant value to the expected oil discoveries anticipated at Kruh 28,” it said. IEC is continuing to drill the well towards the expected oil zone at 2,836 to 2,964 feet and expects to report final results when the well is anticipated to be completed in the coming weeks. 

Separately, IEC announced that with the current rate of production from its existing five production wells at Kruh block and with the current realised price of oil, it is now operating at positive cash flow operations.

“We are certainly very excited about encountering this gas zone in the Kruh 28 well which, if fully confirmed, could provide significant upside to our plans to develop the Kruh Block, where our new wells at the current price of oil are expected to have net revenues in their first 12 months that is more than 150% of the cost to drill such well. This potential gas discovery reinforces our belief that the Kruh Block is a world-class asset,” Frank Ingriselli, IEC’s president, commented.

IEC’s principal assets are its Kruh block located onshore on the island of Sumatra and its Citarum block located onshore on the Island of Java.