Exploration

Abstract

Oil exploration in an unexplored area is both a time-consuming and an expensive operation. Different strategies are followed on land and at sea, with relative costs varying at each stage of exploration. As a general rule the cost of a general survey is higher on land than at sea, but the cost of well drilling is substantially higher at sea than on land. In the Indonesian context where some 13,000 islands are spread out across 5 000 km of sea and where hydrocarbons are found onshore as well as offshore, exploration costs can vary quite considerably with local conditions of terrain, vegetation, water depth, distance from shore, accessibility and remoteness of site.