Publications

The Beruk Northeast oil field in Central Sumatra was discovered in 1976 by the drilling of Beruk Northeast No. 1 which tested 1680 BOPD from Pre-Tertiary basement. In addition to Beruk Northeast only four other fields are reported to produce oil from Pre-Tertiary basement in Indonesia. Indeed oil production from Pre-Tertiary rocks is very exceptional in Southeast Asia.Oil production in Beruk Northeast is obtained from fractured metaquartzites, weathered argillites, and weathered granite. The basement reservoirs have K/Ar radiometric dates varying from Early Permian to Early Cretaceous ages which indicate a complex Pre-Tertiary geologic history.The Beruk Northeast No. 1 well has produced in excess of one million barrels of oil to date. Subsequent development wells have been less productive due to problems of reservoir, separate oil-water contacts and possible unrecognized fracture systems. Beruk Northeast serves as a reminder that the Pre-Tertiary basement is a valid exploration objective in Southeast Asia and that whenever feasible, all exploratory wells should be drilled into basement.