By Amin Hosni
Tutong Assistant District Officer, Abd Ghani (second right) chairing the event. - AMIN HOSNI
After all the seismic studies that has been carried out in the area, Brunei-owned national petroleum company, PetroleumBRUNEI is set to begin drilling activities in the Block L area of the Tutong District, with the firm hope of discovering a "good potential for hydrocarbon".
This information was revealed yesterday when officials with PetroleumBRUNEI and its operator AED South East Asia Limited, formerly Nations Petroleum (SE Asia), held a dialogue session to brief its stakeholders in Kampong Padnunok on the upcoming drilling activities in the area.
Work is due to begin soon on the construction of a drilling site, they said, after which a drilling rig will be moved onto the site to be followed by drilling of the Lempuyang-1 well that will be the second well to be drilled by AED in Mukim Kiudang.
PetroleumBRUNEI however, did not mention the exact date of when the construction will commence but most of heavy machinery will be transported to the site in the evenings to reduce traffic congestion during the day.
Civil works on the first well, Lukut-1, is near completion and will also be followed with the mobilisation of an onshore oilrig.
PetroleumBRUNEI informed its stakeholders that the first phase would involve the setting up of the drilling operation, which would come with some high risk and pose some potential dangers and thus advised the residents to always maintain a safe distance from the construction site during the operations. The drilling equipment, they said, produces some 3,000 horsepower, weighs in at over 2,200 tonnes and has the height of a 20-storey building. The PetroleumBrunei officials further emphasised that work would be carried out by highly skilled professionals at all times.
The involvement of this machinery did tentatively indicate that there is a certain degree of positive signs towards the discovery of more resources under this unassuming rural Tutong village.
Speaking to Siti Diyana Abdullah, External Relations Manager at PetroleumBRUNEI, she explained: "We are conducting all of our drilling on empty plots of land. What we are doing now is called the appraising phase, which is we drill the well and test it. The second phase will be the development phase and that is when we test the commercial viability of the hydrocarbons that we find. So this is a crucial phase".
When further asked whether PetroleumBRUNEI could confirm that they would strike black gold, she replied: "We have been doing extensive seismic studies in the area, and we would not be bringing in millions of dollars worth of machinery if we did not believe that we had reliable indications that there is very good potential for hydrocarbons in the area".
Residents from Kampong Padnunok and several village heads were present at the briefing, which ended with a question and answer session.
One of the concerns raised by the villagers were the effects of the drilling on their nearby paddy fields and farms. The authorities noted that they have worked and cooperated with agricultural specialists from the Department of Agriculture and Agri-food and have been provided with advice and guidelines.
"Every paddy field or plot or fruit orchard that has been affected by our seismic activities have all been compensated according to the rates and advice by the DAA," confirmed Siti Diyana Abdullah.
PetroleumBRUNEI and AED have held, and will continue to hold regular dialogue sessions to ensure all relevant stakeholders are kept well informed of the activities, which are of interest to them.
Furthermore, during the question and answer session, the village residents were also told that they would be informed in due course of the second phase of the operation, which would be whether the drill hole would officially be kept open for further drilling activities that would also require more extensive drilling activities.
"If the circumstances call for it, we have the technology these days that we would not necessarily have to drill directly downwards. So this means that we could afford to drill indirectly and disturb the existing homes and infrastructures as minimal as possible," pointed out PetroleumBRUNEI's external relations manager.
The event was held at Kiudang Primary School and was chaired by the Tutong Assistant District Officer, Awg Abd Ghani bin Hj Othman, while presenting the in-depth explanations on the drilling activities in the vicinity of Kampong Padnunok were PetroleumBRUNEI's Chief Petroleum Engineer, Pg Hj Mohd Amirrudin bin Pg Hj Razali and AED's Procurement and Contracts Officer, Zulasmin Noor.
PetroleumBRUNEI manages and regulates Block L, which covers an area of 2,253 square kilometres in the Brunei-Muara District and parts of Tutong and Temburong districts.
PetroleumBRUNEI is Brunei Darussalam's national oil company, which was enacted by the Brunei National Petroleum Company (BNPC) Order, 2002. The company was registered in 2002 as a private limited company and is wholly owned by the Government of His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam through the Prime Minister's Office.
Borneo Bulletin
