Valeura Energy has completed an eight-well drilling campaign at the Nong Yao field in the Gulf of Thailand, increasing production and successfully delivering its first multi-lateral development well.
The campaign at the offshore field included one appraisal well and seven horizontal development wells drilled from the Nong Yao A and B platforms. All development wells encountered their target reservoirs and were brought on stream as producers.
The appraisal well also reached its intended target and is expected to support future development drilling from the Nong Yao A platform.
Among the wells drilled was NYA-42ST1H, which set a Gulf of Thailand record for the longest horizontal lateral drilled, measuring 4,960 feet.
Production from the Nong Yao field increased following the drilling campaign and a concurrent well workover program on the Nong Yao B and C platforms.
Average production rose from 8,870 barrels of oil per day during the seven-day period ending April 4 to approximately 10,500 barrels per day during the seven-day period ending June 16, before royalties and based on Valeura's working interest share.
“We continue to access new oil reservoirs with ongoing drilling, and have again increased production from the Nong Yao field, our largest producing asset. Moreover, in this campaign, our team has demonstrated the potential for multi-lateral drilling in the Gulf of Thailand as a way to enhance the efficiency of what is already a world-class drilling and completions organization.
“This continues our long tradition of embracing new technology, and sets the stage to deploy this approach broadly across our portfolio,” said Sean Guest, president and chief executive officer of Valeura.
The campaign also included Valeura's first multi-lateral well, NYB-02ST1, in which two separate horizontal production legs were drilled from a single junction point to access different reservoir intervals.
According to the company, the well is the first multi-lateral development of this complexity attempted in Thailand. The design allows production from two separate targets while using only one well slot on the platform.
Valeura noted it is evaluating additional opportunities to apply multi-lateral drilling across its Gulf of Thailand portfolio.
Following completion of the Nong Yao program, the company's contracted drilling rig has moved to the Jasmine field, where a five-well campaign is planned. The program will include three single-bore development wells and a two-wellbore multi-lateral development well.