When it comes to licensing rounds in the Asia-Pacific region, the undoubted success in recent years has been Petronas, which has set an industry standard for attracting serious and substantial investment. Almost the whole of the country is now held under licence, and this has had the knock-on effect of boosting interest in neighbouring Indonesia, which has seen renewed attention with awards.
While Thailand is expected to open its 25th Round in the coming months, it is understood it will focus on the onshore only, and the industry must wait further for the country’s Andaman Sea blocks to be released. The Thai portion of the Andaman Sea has seen no drilling since Kerr McGee’s Manora-1 wildcat in concession W7/38 in early 2000.
The real “Jewel in the Crown” is the Thai-Cambodia Overlapping Claim Area (OCA), where discussions continue according to media reports in both countries. The acreage is arguably one of the best undrilled pieces of acreage in not just the Asia-Pacific region, but also the world. The area has seen no serious exploration activities since the late 1960s due to its contested nature and it contains nearly a third of the prolific Pattani Basin, plus the Khmer Trough.
Hot spots and wells to watch
Current hot spots in the region include the Indonesia portion of the southern Andaman Sea with the Harbour Energy and Mubadala successes proving to date around 11 TCG gas, with considerably more running room. Other hotbeds in the region include the PTTEP and Petronas continued gas successes in Sarawak in Malaysia, where they seem to have broken the code on carbon dioxide distribution, ENI in East Kalimantan Indonesia, the CNOOC successes offshore China and play-opening wells onshore Pakistan and deepwater Bengal Basin in India.
Future provinces in Asia-Pacific which could be unlocked in the coming year or so, include the undrilled Torres Basin offshore Papua New Guinea. Later in 2025, TotalEnergies and new partner Petronas, plan to drill Mailu-1 on a large Eocene reef prospect, while Larus Energy is planning to drill Nanamarope-1 on a Miocene clastic play above the main kitchen area in the Torres Basin.
Another well to watch will be KNOC’s drilling of the Blue Whale prospect off the east coast of South Korea in the Ulleung Basin. Success would open up a large area off the east coast of this energy-hungry country, and likely parts of adjacent Japanese waters.
