Indonesia-focussed players ready the drills

Conrad Petroleum, operating out of Singapore, and Toronto-listed Sonoro Energy are expected to spud appraisal wells on their respective contract areas, the companies communicated on Wednesday.

Conrad Petroleum will drill its well on the offshore Duyung production-sharing contract (PSC) area in the Natuna basin “later this month,” according to Tom kelly, the CEO of joint venture partner Empyrean Energy. The appraisal well will be spudded as part of the Mako project, in which Conrad has a 90% stake. Empyrean holds the remaining 10%.

Onshore, Sonoro Energy is gearing up to drill an appraisal well on the West Sulawesi’s Budong-Budong PSC. Land and an accompanying environmental permit have been acquired, and the company has its sights set on a drilling contractor, Major Drilling Group International of Canada. The well spudding date is tentatively scheduled for August.

“We are very pleased with the rapid progress our team has made in a short amount of time to bring this appraisal well programme together, given the number of contractors and local and national government authorities that we’ve been working with,” Richard Wadsworth, Sonoro’s CEO, said in a statement.