Publications

The offshore Java Sea Biliton PSC was signed on December 30th, 2003, by Asia Petroleum Development (Biliton) Ltd. (“APDBL”) (90%, Operator) and PT Mitra Energy Development (“PT MED”) (10%). At the time of the PSC signing, the Biliton Basin was postulated as a “look-alike” for the prolific Asri/Sunda Basins, located some 200 kms to the SW. By the end of the tenth year exploration period on 29th December, 2013, 4,235kms of 2D and 259 km2 of 3D seismic had been acquired and processed and three wells had been drilled within the PSC area, all were dry holes. Following the ten year PSC exploration programme, one of the main uncertainties over the PSC area appears to have been answered: namely is the basin generating hydrocarbons? Fluid Inclusion (FIL) studies on remaining cuttings from an earlier exploration well in the basin, Parang G-1 (Ashland, 1974), and one of the Biliton exploration wells, Batara Ismaya-1 (APDBL, 2007) both indicated the presence of liquid hydrocarbons within reservoir quality Talang Akar Formation (TAF) sandstones. This paper discusses the reasons for the apparent “failure” of the three Biliton PSC wells, noting that a total of eleven dry wells were drilled in the Asri Basin before the first commercial hydrocarbon discovery at the Widuri-1 well. The PSC exploration strategy is also examined to determine if a different approach would have yielded different results.