MNK Kisaran joint venture to explore Indonesia onshore unconventional resources

The MNK Kisaran production sharing contract has been formally initialled today. It is one of the first PSCs for unconventional oil and gas resources issued in Indonesia. It is the first time New Zealand Oil & Gas has had exposure to prospective oil and gas resources that qualify for concessional Indonesia government terms. Without those concessions the resources could not be developed commercially.

Central Sumatra is one of the major oil producing basins in South East Asia. The MNK Kisaran production sharing contract covers a substantial sub-basin in the same area as the conventional Kisaran production sharing contract where the consortium partners last year successfully drilled for oil and gas. A plan of development for that discovery is currently being prepared, and is expected later this year.

The consortium will study the effective application of unconventional resource technologies in onshore Sumatra over the next three years. The first firm, three-year exploration work commitment includes geological and geophysical studies in each year and drilling a vertical exploration well in year three.