Australian junior Bass Oil will likely have to wait until mid-year before it is able to start its planned drilling campaign at the Tangai Sukananti KSO in Indonesia.

Bass revealed Monday that due to limited availability of 650-horsepower capacity drilling rigs it now planned to issue a tender for a 750-horsepower capacity drilling rig which are more common in the area.

As a result, it now expects drilling of the first well in the two-well campaign, Bunian-5, to spud by mid-year.

Bass had originally planned to kick off the drilling programme late last year but the lack of available rigs saw it push back the campaign until this year, stating last month it had hoped to award a contract during the current quarter.

The Bunian-5 production well will be followed by the Tangai- 5 production well, with construction of the Bunian-5 well site already complete.

It is expected the drilling programme will increase the production capacity of the Tangai-Sukananti fields as well as increase developed reserves.

Output at Tangai-Sukananti averaged 710 barrels of oil per day last month which was in line with December’s production figures.