Drillsearch Energy reports the recommencement of the Tintaburra Block development drilling with the spudding of the Ipundu-16 development well. The Tintaburra Block is a joint venture of Santos Ltd (89%) and DLS (11%) and is the company's largest production joint venture.

Ipundu-16 is the first of a two well development drilling campaign and marks the recommencement of the development activity in the Tintaburra Block. The company has so far approved the Ipundu-16 well and is considering participation in the Ipundu North-13 well - the second well in the program.

Santos as operator of the joint venture spudded the Ipundu-16 development well yesterday evening.

Ipundu-16 is targeting by-passed attic oil in an up dip section in the Ipundu Oil Field within the Tintaburra Block Oil Field complex. The principal target zones are the Wyandra Sandstone and the Murta Formation. Ipundu-16 is targeting recoverable oil of up to 350,000 bbls (P10).

Managing Director Brad Lingo stated "With the recovery of the oil price to the current USD 80/bbl levels from the lows earlier this year, this program is a good first step to get activity moving ahead in our oil exploitation assets. Santos has been working on a number of production enhancement projects in the Tintaburra Block joint venture which we are currently considering. Santos believes these new projects will deliver substantial capital cost savings and increase production reliability further increasing the profitability of these oil production projects."

Tags: Drillsearch Energy