04-05-2013, 01:35 PM
PNGIndustryNews is on a roll. Elk 3 to be spud in next few weeks
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Elk-3 on the way
Blair Price
Friday, 5 April 2013
INTEROIL chief executive officer Phil Mulacek says the Elk-3 delineation well in Papua New Guinea’s Gulf province is almost ready for spudding.
Ambassador for South Korea Sangyoon Park at Elk-4 in PNG
He told PNGIndustryNews.net it was very close to being ready and indicated that drilling could start over the next few weeks.
Anticipated to take 90-120 days to drill inclusive of light testing, Mulacek spoke of how Elk-3 differed from the other wells drilled in the Elk-Antelope field.
“It will be the first well drilled through the whole reservoir from top of gas to the bottom reservoir at the water contact and test the lower porosity section in the Elk reservoir,” Mulacek said.
At least two supermajors are involved with bids for an operating stake of the Elk-Antelope field which underpins InterOil’s Gulf LNG project.
Mulacek answered questions regarding the kind of impact there could be to ongoing talks if Elk-3 hit a big commercial payload.
“The structure of the strategic partner talks is that Elk-3 would only enhance the transaction and is not needed as a condition,” he said.
Mulacek said no delays would be caused to the process and it would “just add further gas volumes for the LNG project”.
With a lot of leads in its acreage, InterOil is closer to narrowing down its next drilling targets.
“We will cover those as we rig up to drill,” Mulacek said."