IPA18-317-G

PROCEEDINGS, INDONESIAN PETROLEUM ASSOCIATION

Forty-Second Annual Convention & Exhibition, May 2018

SUCCESSFUL STORY OF PROVING-UP A NEW PLAY,

AN EOCENE CARBONATE AS A NATURALLY FRACTURED RESERVOIR
IN OFFSHORE NORTH WEST JAVA

Icuk Dwi Wibowo*

Sobani*
Linda Fransiska*
Mery Luciawaty*

ABSTRACT Well trajectory was designed penetrating

The excellent production performance of the K-85
zone (Pre-Talang Akar Formation/TAF) in KLD
Block of the Offshore North West Java (ONWJ) PSC
has triggered a comprehensive study to seek new
opportunities in the adjacent block, called KLA
Block. The zone was originally called as basement
but further petrography analysis showed that the
lithology is limestone deposited in Eocene based on
age dating. It has no primary porosity and
permeability due to high effect of compaction. Five
of thirteen penetrating wells experienced total loss
circulation (TLC) during drilling. Hypothetically K-
85 zone is considered a naturally fractured reservoir
which can explain this TLC phenomenon. This paper
will mainly discuss the challenges, method, lessons
learnt and drilling results of this successful story.
Hydrocarbon existence, resources determination,
fractured characterization and production
performance prediction has become the main
challenges. Existing data such as the drill stem test
(DST) test of K-85 has also been performed in an
exploratory well within the K-A/West Block and
showed an inconclusive result that must be verified.
Revisiting and reinterpretation several data such as
old-wells cutting samples mud log data, seismic and
production data from existing wells can provide
higher assurance. The material balance (MBAL) data
and back-calculation approach from the producing
adjacent block was then used as analogue data for
resources determination and production
performance. Discontinuity feature in seismic has
high correlation with the depth of total loss
circulation in the offset wells. It raises the prediction
accuracy of fracture distribution in K-85 reservoir.
Two dependent wells were originally proposed
targeting the K-85 zone in West Block and were
planned to prove the hydrocarbon accumulation.
perpendicular to the main fracture orientation. The
first well has been drilled and successfully tested
with initial rate close to 10 mmscfpd, 1800 bopd at
WHP 2000 psi, followed by the second well with a
similar rate with no water. It raises field production
by more than sixty percent and becomes the new
backbone for gas and oil production. This is the first
successful story of proving up an Eocene Carbonate
as a naturally fractured reservoir in Offshore North
West Java.
INTRODUCTION
The ONWJ area is located on the north Coast of Java
Island in Indonesia. The ONWJ PSC has been
operated by PT. Pertamina Hulu Energi ONWJ since
2009. The PSC consist of several fields and has been
producing since 1971 with more than 700 wells and
150 production platforms. The Kencanaloka Field,
one of the field within PSC, is located approximately
59 miles northeast of Jakarta in the Ardjuna Sub
Basin Southern flank area. The structure has been
developed by three platforms (K-A, K-B and K-C)
since 1986 (Figure 1)
The South Ardjuna sub-basins formed an excellent
hydrocarbon generation and accumulation systems
(Noble, R.A., et al., 1997). The Kencanaloka Field is
one of the preferred structures for hydrocarbon
accumulation that generated in South Ardjuna sub-
basins (Figure. 2). The syn-rift non-marine
succession and early post-rift deltaic deposits contain
abundant sapropel-rich carbonaceous source rocks.
These are supplemented in the syn-rift section by
important zones of algal-rich lacustrine shales.
Numerous, high quality reservoirs such as the upper
Oligocene post-rift deltaic succession (Talang Akar
Formation), Miocene carbonates (Baturaja
Formation) and near-shore marine sandstones (Main
and Massive Formations) have been produced since

* Pertamina Hulu Energi ONWJ

the early field development (Figure 3). As the
Kencanaloka Field production declines, an
integrated subsurface strategy was initiated to target
the deeper reservoirs which was initially not
commercially attractive and that were always
considered as secondary targets. Another
development strategy is twinning the exploration
well which has excellent DST results.
The Kencanaloka Field is compartmentalized by
fault. Compartmentalization may be different in each
zone and it depends on the fault. The K-85 zone in
the Kencanaloka Field is divided into East and West
Blocks. Located in the East Block of Kencanaloka
Field, the KS-1 exploratory well was drilled in 1988
and tested from bottom zone called “economic-
basement” with a rate close to 9 mmscfd and 500
bopd. Another key well is a development well KB-
15, drilled in 2011 targeting the Talang Akar
sandstone and twinning the promising “economic-
basement” of KS-1. The initial rate was 18 mmscfd
and 350 bopd with cumulative production of 19 BCF
and no water from single zone K-85, currently still
produce 6 MMSCFD with 900 BOPD. Following the
success of this well, an integrated study has been
performed to analyze the K-85 zone and its potential
in the West Block of Kencanaloka Field.
DATA
a. Well Data
There are thirteen wells that have penetrated K-85 or
equivalent in the Kencanaloka Field. Three wells
(KS-1, KB-15 and KS-2) penetrated the zone in the
East Block. KS-1 & KB-15 experienced total loss
circulation (TLC) 400 bph during drilling into the K-
85 zone. KS-2 was drilled as delineation well in the
Kencanaloka Field and located in the flank area with
no total loss was experienced while penetrating K-85
zone which is described as inter-fingering between
limestone and quartzite.
The rest of the wells are located in the West Block.
Six wells (KA-1, KA-2, KA-6, KB-4, KA-8ST, KB-
10) have penetration point in the high structure of K-
85 in the West Block. Three of them (KA-2, KB-4,
KA-8ST) also experienced total loss circulation
during drilling when penetrating the K-85 zone. The
other wells are delineated wells and located in the
flank structure (see Figure 4).
Overall, K-85 has limited wireline log data due
previously was not categorized as reservoir target,
rat-hole only and experienced total loss circulation.
The only available e-line log is gamma ray,
resistivity and density neutron. K-85 zone has no
image log and dipole sonic to characterize fracture
more details. All available image log and dipole
sonic in nearby fields from other zones was then
utilized to get the idea of fracture orientation and
distribution (Figure 8).
b. Seismic Data
The Kencanaloka Field is covered by 3D merged
KKJJSA. Seismic analysis could be very
advantageous to recognize fracture zone which is
associated with discontinuity feature. Several
seismic attribute analyses, such as coherence,
fault-likelihood and ant-tract, have been
performed to identify discontinuity in K-85 zone.
These seismic attribute analyses were then
calibrated to the well log data to determine the
fractured zone.
K-85 NEW INTERPRETATION
a. Lithology Description
The initial interpretation of K-85 cutting
descriptions was derived from nine exploration
wells (K-1, K-2/2ST, K-3, K-4, K-5, K-6A, K-7,
KS-1 and KS-2) and K-85 was interpreted consist
of varied lithology from limestone, quartzite, tuff,
weathered basement and metamorphic rock. More
thorough and detailed analysis on progress log,
mud log and verifying old cutting data has been
performed to ensure the lithology description. Side
wall core (SWC) samples have been sent to a
laboratory for petrography and age dating
analyses.
New interpretation from cutting description
described K-85 as carbonate sediment or limestone
with light brown color, hard to brittle, calcite,
fossil fragments, argillaceous, mottled. Based on
petrography analysis, K-85 is dominantly
mudstone (Dunham, R.J., 1962), crystalized and
brecciated limestone. Age dating Sr- isotope
analysis shows that KL-85 was deposited in
Eocene time. These new analyses suggest that KL-
85 is not the real basement which is well-known
and age-dated as Pre-Tertiary in ONWJ area. KL-
85 was deposited just above the Basement and
before the Talang Akar Formation, or called the
Pre Talang Akar sediment (Aveliansyah et al.,
2016, see Figure. 3).
It can be concluded that the previously tested (DST
at KS-1) and current produce gas at KB-15 well
actually come from K-85 zone instead of
basement.
b. Fracture Identification   and need to be clarified.
A hypothetical analysis of fracture presence in K-85
was introduced from the total losses evidence. In
contrary, K-85 has no visible porosity based on
cutting description. It is also confirmed by
petrography analysis that shows K-85 has very low
primary porosity due to high effect of compaction.
Petrophysical analysis also indicates that K-85 has
only up to three percent porosity. KA-6 thin section
analysis discovers non-ferroan xenotopic dolomite is
replaced by adularia feldspar which is associated
with fractures (Figure 5).
A regional cross section across the PSC area was
then created and found that there are several wells
that penetrated K-85 equivalent zone. Especially,
UQ-1 (70 kms away), an exploratory well in the
Uniform Field, and LN-2 (35 kms away), an
exploratory well in Lima Field, which both have
acquired conventional core in K-85 equivalent zone
and further been used as conventional core analogue
data. Both cores show that the lithology consist of
limestone which has very low porosity due to high
effect of compaction, quite similar with K-85 zone in
Kencanaloka Field, and fractures are well-developed
in those K-85 equivalent zones (Figure 6). Regional
depositional environment reconstruction suggests
that Kencanaloka, Uniform and Lima field was
originally located in marine shelf where limestone
could be raised above the Pre Tertiary Basement
during Eocene time (Figure 7).
All available image logs give an overall NE-SW
fracture trend. It is similar with the regional
structural trend in ONWJ PSC area, and most
importantly the fault trend in the Kencanaloka Field
(Figure 8). This is significant data for fracture
interpretation and modelling. It is then validated by
all available well data such as mud log and depth of
total loss circulation. Discontinuity feature in seismic
also show good correlation with the depth of total
loss circulation in penetrated wells. It increase the
confidence level and accuracy of predicting fractures
distribution in the K-85 reservoir.
HYDROCARBON ACCUMULATION AND
ASSURANCE IN WEST BLOCK
The only producing well from K-85 zone before
drilling two additional infill wells is KB-15 which is
located in the East Block. Meanwhile, hydrocarbon
accumulation in the West Block of Kencanaloka
Field still has high uncertainty due to limited
production data. KA-6 well DST, which the only
well that has DST in the West Block resulted in water
Further assessment to KA-6 DST shows that the
result is inconclusive. After six hours DST with N2
injection using coil-tubing, it was recorded that
chloride (Cl-) content still 70-75K ppm from the
return water from the well along with pumped N2.
The data showed that well head pressure decreased
rapidly when stop pumping N2. It indicates that the
water sample could still be a completion fluid and no
flow from the reservoir yet. There is no water
produced or Cl- measurement from K-85 zone to
validate that data, however estimated Cl- content of
K-85 should be within 5-20K ppm range from water
analysis data base in ONWJ. It represents Talang
Akar Formation fresh water and Main/Massive
which is deposited in shallow marine environment.
The KA-6 well completion is cased hole and K-85
zone was only perforated 9 feet in the upper part. It
is completely different with successful DST test in
KS-1 well in K-85 zone which was performed in the
open-hole completion. Limited perforation interval
in cased-hole completion creates more flow
restriction rather than open-hole completion,
especially in fracture zone. It is possible that the
perforation interval in KA-6 might not be in a good
fractured-network interval. Several pressure and
sampling tests have been performed in the old
exploratory K-2ST well, but unsuccessful. It
emphasized that the K-85 zone has no porosity.
The available standard e-line log in K-85 fracture
zone is limited for assisting in hydrocarbon
determination. However, the resistivity log shows
high resistivity reading, up to 900 ohm-m, from the
top K-85 to TD in every penetrating well, including
the deepest well, which is K-2ST that penetrated K-
85 zone more than 350 feet of thickness in the flank
area of the Kencanaloka Field.
The powerful tool to detect hydrocarbon existence in
K-85 is mud-log data. Six wells (KA-1, KA-2, KA-
6, KB-4, KA-8ST, KB-10) have penetration point in
the high structure of K-85 in the West Block. Three
of them (KA-2, KB-4, KA-8ST) had severed total
loss circulation and one well (KA-6) experienced
partial loss circulation during drilling when
penetrating the K-85 zone. Three wells (KA-1, KA-
6, KB-10) showed a high total gas reading in the K-
85 zone. The ratio of total gas reading and
background gas is ranging from 10-20 times. Some
side wall cores and cuttings description also indicate
oil shows within the K-85 zone. The above data
supports the evidence of hydrocarbon accumulation
of K-85 zone in the West Block of the Kencanaloka
Field.
DRILLING PROGRAM, RESULT AND
LESSON LEARNT
a. Drilling program
Material Balance Analysis has been performed to
calculate the hydrocarbon reserves in East Block of
K-85 zone in Kencanaloka Field with total reserves
could be more than hundred BCF. It was then utilized
& back-calculated to determine hydrocarbon in-
place using the deterministic method. The
petrophysical parameters will remain uncertain and
be used as sensitivity due to no image log to
determine fracture porosity. This approach has been
used to predict the hydrocarbon in place for a new
opportunity of K-85 zone in the west block by
considering the acreage, predicted vertical boundary
and potential hydrocarbon column as sense-check.
After thorough analysis, a comprehensive drilling
program were planned to prove a new play of
naturally fractured reservoir of the K-85 zone in the
West Block of the Kencanaloka Field. Two wells
have been proposed to target the K-85 zone. Well
trajectory has been designed to penetrate
perpendicular to the K-85 fracture-zone target and
main fracture orientation. The first well in particular
the trajectory also must be able to be side-tracked to
the second well location. This is part of the
mitigation plan if there is an operational drilling
problem before penetrating K-85 zone or if there is
no flow on well-testing. The well completion
program is open-hole completion in the K-85 zone.
Manage pressure drilling tool is installed to combat
the loss and continue drilling during total loss
circulation. Wireline logging program includes the
image, dipole sonic log and mini-DST using packer
for further fracture characterization, pressure test and
down-hole fluid sampling. Acidizing program is
prepared for well-stimulation if the well is unable to
flow.
b. Drilling Well Result
As expected, the first well KB-18 has experienced
total losses by 400 bph and 3500 bph in KB-21 well
when penetrating the K-85 in big fracture zone
interval. It is confirmed by well log data reading that
KB-18 penetrated several fracture zones intervals.
Resistivity and density log reading is very low in the
fracture interval. The upper part shows less fracture
zone that caused a partial loss circulation, meanwhile
the lower part indicates a big fracture zone that
caused a total loss circulation during drilling. There
is no mud return on total loss circulation interval
which means no LWD log data could be acquired.
The well was successfully completed with open-hole
completion at the end of August 2017 and tested with
a gas rate close to 10 mmscfd, oil rate of almost 1800
bopd and WHP up to 2000 psi.
The second well, KB-21 well is dependent to the KB-
18 well results. After getting the excellent K-18 well
test results, KB-21 was then drilled in early
September 2017. As predicted, KB-21 has also
experienced with total loss circulation when
penetrating K-85 fracture zone in the lower part. The
well was successfully completed with open-hole
completion in early October 2017 and tested with a
similar rate with the first well. Both wells penetrated
the K-85 zone at more than 150 feet of thickness. (see
Figure 9).
c. Lessons Learnt
Those wells have been successfully proving-up an
Eocene Carbonate K-85 zone as a new naturally
fractured reservoir play in Kencanaloka Field. It
implies that all Eocene Carbonate in Offshore North
West Java has now become interesting to be
evaluated, especially in nearby structures to the north
of the Kencanaloka Field, Lima Field and Uniform
Field. The equivalent zones in those fields have
shown similar evidence with K-85 zone which
experienced partial total loss during drilling, fracture
existence based on conventional cores and oil shows.
As fracture has been proved to be well-developed in
K-85 zone, it advises that the same tectonic event
could have generated fracture zones in the basement.
Based on the old exploratory well, the Kencanaloka
Field basement might be a quartzite. It is a preferred
lithology for fracture development. Thus, quartzite
basement underlay below the K-85 zone in the
Kencanaloka Field would be very attractive for the
next drilling campaign target.
After several weeks of production, there is a water
encroachment in both wells, the water cut jump up to
50% when using choke 42/64”. The water has 4-6k
ppm of Cl- content. It indicates formation water. The
water rate is corresponding to the choke size.
Therefore, it is important to have a choke
management system when producing hydrocarbon
from the fractured reservoir. Since then, the water cut
was stabilized within 5-10% when bean-down using
32/64” choke size with hydrocarbon rate is close to 9
MMSCFD and 700 BCPD. The water source was
interpreted as water that came along during
hydrocarbon migration or somehow the fractured
system might be connected to the Talang Akar
aquifer which is known has similar Cl- content. The
other lesson learnt is increasing CO2 content in gas
production system along with K-85 zone production
that needs special handling to avoid surface facility
corrosion. It should be closely monitoring until the
sales point. The back pressure creates from the new
zone also might have impact to the existing
production system. Therefore bottle neck study must
be done properly, especially in the brown field area.
CONCLUSION
Based on the post evaluation of drilling wells, the
following conclusions can be drawn.
1. KB-18 and K-21 wells have been successfully
proving-up an Eocene Carbonate K-85 zone as a
new naturally fractured reservoir play in the
Kencanaloka Field which contributes more than
18 mmscfd and 1500 bopd to ONWJ field
production.
2. A choke management system is important when
producing hydrocarbon from the fractured
reservoir to avoid early water encroachment.
3. “Back to rock” and performing comprehensive
assessment of “old-data” such as cutting
examination, mud-log evaluation and DST result
validation could be very beneficial to support the
new idea.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors wish to thank the respective
management of Pertamina Hulu Energi and PHE
ONWJ for permission to publish this work. Special
acknowledgment is given to KL Infill team
members including the Operation Geology and
Drilling team as well as the West Asset Reservoir
Management team, Subsurface Department and
Drilling & Well Services Department for their
support and encouragement during the publication
of this paper and their contributions to the
outcome.
REFFERENCES
Aveliansyah et al., 2016, Pre-Talang Akar
Formation: New Hopes For Hydrocarbon
Exploration In The Offshore North West Java
Basin,., Proc. IPA 41st Annual Convention.
Dunham, R.J. (1962) Classification of Carbonate
Rocks according to Depositional Texture.
American Association of Petroleum Geologists, 1,
108-121.
Noble, R.A., et al., 1997, Petroleum System of
Onshore and Offshore North West Java Indonesia.,
Atlantic Richfield Indonesia Inc, Pertamina,
BPPKA.
.
 Figure 1 - (A) ONWJ PSC area and (B) Kencanaloka Field consists of 3 Platform: KA, KB and KC with total of 33 wells

 
Figure 2 - (A) Petroleum system in South Ardjuna sub-basin and (B) Kencanaloka Field is one of the preferred structures for hydrocarbon accumulation generated from
South Ardjuna sub-basin

 
Figure 3 - ONWJ PSC Stratigraphy column. K-85 is Pre-Talang Akar Formation and deposited above the
basement.

 
 Figure 4 - Kencanaloka Field in top K-85 depth structure map overlay with discontinuity feature in seismic.

 
Figure 5 - (A) KA-6 well thin section analysis discovers non-ferroan xenotopic dolomite is replaced by adularia feldspar which is associated with fractures. (B) K-85 in
K-2ST well primary porosity ranging from no visible, absent and negligible due to high effect of compaction.

 
 Figure 6 - LN-2 (A) and UQ-1 (B) conventional core analysis in K-85 equivalent zone show limestone lithology and fracture existence.

 
Figure 7 - Regional depositional environment reconstructions expose that Kencanaloka and Uniform field was originally located in marine shelf where limestone could be
well-developed.

 
 Figure 8 - Regional stress and fracture orientation in ONWJ area shown NE-SW trend

 
Figure 9 - Drilling results show KB-18 and KB-21 experienced total loss circulation during drilling K-85 zone that indicates fracture zones. Depth of total loss circulation
is corresponding to discontinuity feature in seismic as predicted.