First drop of oil by mid-2020, says Hun Sen
PRIME Minister Hun Sen on Monday confirmed that Cambodia will extract the first drop of oil from the Apsara oilfield in Cambodia’s offshore Block A by mid-2020.
He said this during a gradua t i on ceremony f or t he Human Resource University, which was held at the National Institute of Education in Phnom Penh.
Last week, Singapore-based KrisEnergy Ltd – which operates Block A – announced that its wholly owned subsidiary KrisEnergy (Apsara) Co Ltd had signed a conditional letter of award with PT Profab Indonesia for the supply of a minimum facilities wellhead “mini-platform” for the Apsara oilfield – Cambodia’s maiden oil development.
“This development phase, Mini Phase 1A, comprises the mini-platform and five initial development wells connected to the Ingenium II production barge for oil, gas and water processing. Shuttle tankers will transport crude oil from the barge,” the firm said.
The Apsara oilfield in Cambodia’s offshore Block A lies over the Khmer Basin, an unproduced geological area in Cambodian waters in the Gulf of Thailand, it said.
“Apsara oil is scheduled to flow in the first half of 2020, and the field is expected to reach a peak rate of 7,500 barrels of oil per day.”
Hun Sen said: “Now our first drop of oil will be extracted by 2020, but on a specific date I will have to confirm. They [KrisEnergy] are working with the company [Profab], which is building equipment to extract our first oil.”
The Ministry of Mines and Energy’s General Department of Petroleum director-general Cheap Sour said: “We expect that if the price of the oil is in the $80 per barrel range, the gover nment wil l re c e i v e approximately $900 million in revenue from the Block A development project over nine years.”
KrisEnergy investor relations and corporate communications vice-president Tanya
Pang told The Post last week that Profab will fabricate and construct the jacket – the legs of the platform – and the topsides for the Apsara mini-platform.
“Once constructed, it will be sailed out to the Apsara oilfield location, where it will be installed and hooked up to the production barge, with the development wells drilled.
“This is the first phase of the development and is designed to produce the field and
monitor the reservoir performance most efficiently and effectively before we progress to the further development of the Apsara area.
“As it states in the announcement, Apsara oil is scheduled to flow in the first half of 2020,” Pang said.
In July, KrisEnergy completed a 1,200sq km 3D seismic survey of Block A on time and without any health, safety or environmental incidents, it said. Shearwater Geoservices Singapore Pte Ltd had been awarded the turnkey broadband seismic contract through KrisEnergy (Apsara).
Shearwater Geoservices deployed its vessel, the SW Vespucci, to carry out the survey.
“The data will provide valuable information of the subsurface over two distinct areas – partially the Apsara development area and also a large portion of Block A where there has been very little data so far and has good potential for further hydrocarbon discoveries,” Pang told The Post.
KrisEnergy owns 95 per cent of the Apsara oil field in Block A, while the Cambodian government owns the remaining five per cent.
Cambodia Block A covers 4,709sq km in the Gulf of Thailand over the Khmer Basin and is approximately 150km off the Kingdom’s shores, with water depths ranging from 50-80m.