PNG received its 2017 New Year’s blessing with the breaking news of Muruk 1 discovery at the eve of the year end. Oil Search began drilling the Muruk-1 well on Nov. 2, 2016. The drilling campaign concluded with a successful discovery in the Toro formation of the early cretaceous stones similar to the Hides and Juha gas fields. See figure below for the licence area showing well location and see figure 2 for cross-section map of the Muruk 1 prospect showing the Toro formation of the drilling and appraisal target.

It is early days yet to pin a gas in place estimate as the field has to go through extensive appraisal drilling campaigns as best industry practice before submitting to the regulatory an application for petroleum development licence and the certified reserves.

Petroleum prospecting license 402 covers 126,000 acres (510 square kilometres) in the Papua New Guinea Highlands.

Interest owners are ExxonMobil (42.5 percent), Oil Search Limited (37.5 percent) and Barracuda Limited, a subsidiary of Santos Limited (20 percent, subject to regulatory approval), with Oil Search as operator.

Exploration Overview

Well Name: Muruk 1ST3
Licence Num: PPL 402
Location: Highlands, PNG (North-west of the Hides Gas field)
Operator: Oil Search (PNG) Ltd
Status Quo: Currently in exploration stage