Canada-based oil and gas company Valeura Energy has completed the acquisition of the floating storage and offloading (FSO) vessel Aurora, which is already on location at its Nong Yao field, in the Gulf of Thailand.
The acquisition was the result of Valeura exercising its purchase option to acquire the vessel, which it had previously leased from the seller, a member of the Omni Offshore Terminals group.
The purchase price of $19 million was funded with the company’s cash resources, and the transaction was completed on June 11, 2024, with final handover occurring offshore, on the vessel itself.
Valeura anticipates that owning, as opposed to leasing the FSO, will provide operational flexibility and allow the company to optimize and reduce operating expenses.
Valeura holds an operated 90% working interest in Licence G11/48 containing the Nong Yao oil field, which produces approximately 8,900 bbls/d (working interest share) of medium sweet crude oil from reservoirs of Miocene age. The remaining 10% interest in the license is held by Palang Sophon.
The Nong Yao field has been developed by wells, drilled from two wellhead platforms, which are connected to a leased FSO vessel.
A further development project is underway to commercialize a southern extension of the field known as the Nong Yao C accumulation by way of additional development wells to be drilled from a new mobile offshore production unit (MOPU). The Company anticipates that the Nong Yao extension will result in production increasing to 11,000 bbls/d (working interest share).
In May 2024, Valeura started development drilling operations at Nong Yao C extension, having completed the infill drilling campaign at Nong Yao A, offshore Thailand.
A month earlier, Valeura struck oil in the Nong Yao-13 well, which was was drilled to 5,399 feet measured depth (MD), with oil discovered just over 30 feet of new oil pay across several intervals.
The result confirmed that oil successfully migrated into this area of the block, a factor that was seen to be a risk in the Nong Yao D area.
