DILI, 03 january 2022 (TATOLI) – Minister of Petroleum and Minerals, Víctor da Conceição Soares said that the Australian privately owned oil and gas company Timor Resources has ended the oil and gas exploration of Feto Kmaus site, saying the field would not produce enough oil and gas to be commercially viable.
Feto Kmaus exploration well is located in the region of Suai, Covalima, and was spudded by Timor-Resources.
“According to the official statement of the National Petroleum and Minerals Authority (ANPM), the Feto Kmaus exploration showed a negative result, which means that there is not enough oil in the field to be explored for commercial purposes,” Minister of Petroleum and Minerals, Víctor da Conceição Soares told reporters at Timor-Plaza, in Dili, on thursday.
He reiterated that Timor-Resources had concluded its exploration of the Feto Kmaus site, as it has no sufficient oil and gas reserves to be commercially viable.
A site to be considered as a commercial well, if it produces enough oil or gas to be commercially viable. All wells that investors are willing to put money into are considered to be commercial wells. Sites with non-producing wells fall outside this category, as do sites with only one or two wells unless their production is extremely high on a consistent basis.
“So, the company has shifted its exploration to the Karau Well. The drilling of the Karau Well has reached 940 meters deep, but it needs to drill another 900 meters to reach its target of 19400 to 1800 meters deep to detect the oil and gas,” he said.
In november 2021, Timor Resources said the discovery consisted of oil and gas, and that Schlumberger had run wireline logs on the well to help measure the amount of oil and gas discovered.
In december 2021, the President of ANPM, Florentino Soares Ferreira said that a conclusive study is required to see whether Feto-Kmaus can be categorized as a commercial well.
Feto Kmaus exploration was the first onshore drilling campaign in 50 years since 1971. It was the first of two planned onshore exploration wells; the other one is Karau well.
Journalist: Filomeno Martins
Editor: Rafy Belo
