RE:OCMHi taal,
A commercial find takes longer for 2 main reasons (potentially up to 3):
1) The wireline program would probably have additional runs to a dry case (but this impact is rather small, a matter of 2-3 extra days on a well)
2) Going chronologically, the second reason is the one taking the most time (but we're not impacted by that one on Kawa, hence "potentially up to 3"), which is the welltest. As I stated on previous posts, exploration wells are less and less subject to welltest nowadays and it also costs a lot of monet & adds anywahere between 7 to 15 days to the program.
3) The Plug and Abandon (P&A) phase takes longer (re-reading your question, it''s not part of the "ascertain" part as such, but anyway) because the regulatory requirements (and good oilfield practice) for abandoning wells take into account hydrocarbon bearing zones and flow potential to surface; in a dryhole case your P&A program will (may) be a tad (just a tad) lighter, with an impact of say 1-3 days on the overall planning.
Folks, I scanned quickly on yesterday's messages, there are a bit too many to read right now, I'm answering this one because I saw my name but if there is any other question I'm missing please reply here or drop me a message.
GLTA,