Publications

The Wiriagar Deep-1 (WD-1) discovery well was the first commercial pre-Tertiary hydrocarbon discovery in Indonesia. The 1994 discovery of the giant Wiriagar Deep gas field by ARCO Indonesias New Ventures Exploration Department triggered an intensive, four-year exploration and appraisal program on three adjacent blocks in Papua, Indonesia that subsequently led to ARCOs 1998 announcement of the Tangguh LNG Project, comprising six offshore and onshore gas fields with a total reserve potential estimated at 24 TCF.The discoveries were the result of new Indonesian Government incentives promoting Pre-Tertiary, Frontier, and Deepwater exploration, and rested on foundations provided by earlier exploration activity, careful analyses and evaluation of WD-1 data, and the continued evolution of play concepts and exploration goals in response to technical surprises encountered during the exploratory phase.Originally conceived as a Wiriagar Deep oil-play in Bintuni Basins Jurassic succession, the discovery of multiple gas reservoirs and no oil on the WD-1 was initially greeted with disappointment. However, analyses of WD-1 data in conjunction with a re-evaluation of regional data, led to a revised Wiriagar Deep gas-play concept predicting commercial Jurassic gas accumulations at the Wiriagar Deep structure. A re-evaluation of Bintuni Basin regional data also led a new exploration concept, the Vorwata gas-play. Subsequent drilling of the offshore Wiriagar Deep-2 confirmed the giant Wiriagar Deep gas field accumulation, and drilling of the offshore Vorwata- 1 led to the discovery of the adjacent supergiant Vorwata gas field.The discovery teams detailed analysis of unexpected drilling results and re-evaluation of regional data from a new perspective resulted in an evolution of play-concepts and exploration goals that triggered the development of Indonesias first commercial Mesozoic hydrocarbon discovery, and eastern Indonesias first commercial LNG project.