Salamander spuds exploration wells in Indonesia

Oil and gas group Salamander Energy has announced that it has started drilling at its Bontang project in the North Kutei basin in Indonesia.

The company has spud its South Kecapi-1 DIR and DIRA exploration wells in the wholly owned and operated project in East Kalimantan.

South Kecapi-1 DIR will be drilled to a depth of around 2,450m total vertical depth sub sea and, once completed, will be sidetracked around 1.5km to the west with the DIRA well being drilled to a depth of around 2,100m TVDSS.

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Salamander said that the wells are targeting gas and oil pay in a series of stacked Pliocene-Upper Miocene sandstone reservoirs.

"The combined mean pre-drill estimate of prospective recoverable resources is approximately 275 Bcf and 20 MMbo," the company said in a statement.