Tap Oil Limited recently engaged Perth based consulting group Discover Geoscience to undertake an evaluation of the area surrounding the Manora Oil Field within the G1/48 concession, in the Gulf of Thailand with a particular focus on identifying new exploration opportunities.

This engagement with Discover is part of a strategic initiative by Tap Oil to encourage new exploration and development activity in and around the Manora Oil Field to ensure the potential of the field and surrounding acreage is fully exploited. The existing Manora Oil Field infrastructure allows for discoveries within ~5km of the platform to be brought online for production within 2-3 weeks of drilling.

Due to the low cost of drilling and completion (~US$3.6 million per well gross or ~US$1.1 million per well net), the profit margin on new barrels from the Manora Oil Field is greater than US$35/bbl at current spot prices. The relatively low cost of drilling and development of identified prospects, and potential for high margin barrels make the identified prospects a compelling drilling opportunity.

Discover have identified 32 leads as part of their preliminary evaluation, with an unrisked total Oil Initially In Place (OIIP) volume of ~56 MMSTB net to Tap Oil. This is in addition to Tap Oil’s 1P Reserves of 1.2 MMSTB, 2P Reserves of 2.1 MMSTB and 2C Contingent Resources of 1.1 MMSTB as at 30 June 2018 for G1/48.

Discover has defined all leads based on high quality 3D seismic in proven oil play fairways. Further evaluation is ongoing in order to generate drillable prospects and will take approximately ten weeks to complete. Tap Oil intends to present the high graded drilling opportunities identified from this evaluation to the G1/48 joint venture.

Tap Oil’s recent drilling campaign success is an indicator of the remaining potential in and around the Manora Oil Field. The initial production from MNA-20 and MNA-21 wells (part of the recent drilling campaign) has increased total daily production from the Manora Oil Field by ~38% to ~8,300 bopd gross (~2,500 bopd net). Both the MNA-20 and MNA-21 wells were producing within 2 days of completion.

Manora Oil Development

Tap holds a 30% direct interest in the G1/48 concession in the northern Gulf of Thailand. This concession holds the Manora oil field, which is located offshore in the Gulf of Thailand and operated by Mubadala Petroleum (Thailand) Ltd. The field is located approximately 80 kilometres offshore of Prachuap Khiri Khan Province. Production commenced on 11 November 2014 with the first lifting on 25 December 2014.

The Manora oil field was discovered in November 2009 and Tap reached FID on the Manora oil development in July 2012. The field was brought on-stream in November 2014.

The Manora oil field has three key components. The platform, the Floating Storage Offloading (FSO) Unit and the development wells. Manora is a single well head platform with a four-leg platform jacket substructure with the topsides containing the production process and well head equipment. A pipeline and risers connects the platform to a leased FSO Unit. The FSO, Manora Princess, is a site-specific crude oil FSO that is moored and linked to the platform and also serves as the accommodation hub.

The oil from Manora has medium gravity of 28 degree API and sells at a premium to the Platts Dubai crude oil benchmark. The reservoirs are Miocene delta-fan sandstones with high permeability in two fault blocks on downthrown side of major N-S fault system. The structure is steeply dipping and there are large oil columns in excess of 800 ft.