Novus stops Singa drilling

Novus stops Singa drilling

MELBOURNE (Reuter): Australia's Novus Petroleum Ltd said
yesterday the joint venture partners in the Singa-1 exploration
well on the Indonesian island of Sumatra had decided to stop
drilling short of the well's target depth.

Last month Novus said the well discovered gas at the top of
the main reservoir target at 3,635 metres.

The target depth for the well was 4,115 metres where it was to
test a limestone reef known as the Batu Raja formation which
hosts oil in the prolific Limau oil trend in South Sumatra.

"The well has not been particularly appropriately engineered
to go to these depths," Novus managing director, Bob Williams
sold a Securities Institute Association luncheon.

"In the last few days the partners decided the well was not
making enough progress, was not cost effective," he said.

Australia's Energy Equity Ltd is the operator of the project
and has a 20 percent interest. The other partners are Novus with
15 percent, Amerada Hess Corp with 50 percent and Coparex
International SA with 15 percent.