Turkish Petroleum Overseas Company (TOPCO), has flowed 850 Barrels of Oil Per Day (BOPD), in a new field wildcat 11-147/03, located in Area 147 in Libya’s Murzuq Basin. The well, touted as the sixth discovery by the operator in the area, drilled to a total depth of 2807metres(9,209 feet). The test was carried out in the interval between 2730metres(8,958ft) and 2744metres(9,004ft) in the Memouniat Formation.
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Australian independent ADX Energy, was hoping to spud the Sidi Daher exploration well, onshore Tunisia in February 2011, as of the time of our going to press in late January 2011. The operator of the Chorbane Block signed a Letter of Intent with Challenger Limited for the use of the Rig 37 onshore drilling unit to drill the well. But the spud is subject to completion of civil works and receipt of approvals from the Tunisian authorities.
ADX expects to drill the well to a Total Depth of 2,150metres. The Sidi Daher prospect contains multiple potential reservoir intervals of Tertiary and Cretaceous age that will be evaluated with this well. ADX has estimated prospective resources of 175 billion cubic feet of gas in the Eocene aged Metlaoui Formation and 44 million barrels of oil in the Cretaceous aged Abiod Formation. Additional resource potential exists in the Douleb and Bireno Members of the Cretaceous aged Aleg Formation.
Murphy Oil plans to drill two appraisal wells on the Turquoise discovery in 2010. It will form the base for decision about field development. The Turquoise Marine-1 prospect located in the Mer Profonde Sud (MPS) block, offshore Republic of Congo (Brazzaville), encountered in excess of 4lmetres (136 feet) of net oil pay in a total measured depth of 3675m(12,060 feet). The water depth is 1,6llmetres (5285ft) of water. The Turquoise Marine-1 discovery is approximately 27 kilometres from the Murphy operated Azurite Field. For appraisal and development of Turquoise, Murphy will seek to optimize the existing Azurite field infrastructure. Murphy serves as operator and has a 50% working interest in the MPS block. Partners are PA Resources (35%) and Société Nationale des Pétroles du Congo (15%).
Apache’s WKAL-A-2X discovery tested 5,085 barrels of oil and 130 thousand cubic feet (Mcf) of gas per day – the fourth successful exploration test in West Kalabsha Concession and the company’s sixth discovery in the Faghur Basin play in Egypt’s far Western Desert.
WKAL-A-2X is located about 2.4km north of the Apache WKAL-A-1X discovery and 8km west of Apache’s Phiops Field. WKAL-A-1X was designed to test Cretaceous age Alam El Buieb (AEB) formations in a new fault block in a structurally higher position than the WKAL-A-1X well. The WKAL-A-2X well logged a total of 198 feet of pay in four AEB intervals including the 3G interval which was highly productive in a test of the WKAL-A-1X well. The latest well was perforated over the top 10 feet of a 29-foot section of the AEB-3C10 sand.
“With this latest discovery and other recent wells, we anticipate production from the Phiops-West Kalabsha area will double to 20,000 barrels per day as additional infrastructure is brought on line in the third quarter,” said Rod Eichler, Apache’s co-chief operating officer and president International. “We estimate the discovered resource potential in the Phiops and Kalabsha areas exceeds 50 million barrels of oil equivalent.
“Several additional prospects have been identified, and we are acquiring more three- dimensional seismic in the Faghur Basin in order to extend this string of successes both to the northeast and southwest of this most recent discovery,” he said. “The thickness of the sands and the stacked pay zones make this a very attractive area for further exploration.”
Apache plans to drill seven additional exploration wells in the Faghur Basin play during 2010. Apache has applied for a development lease with the Egyptian General Petroleum Company for both discoveries. Apache operates the West Kalabsha Concession and has a 100-percent contractor interest.
Geotrace has completed one of the world’s largest onboard data processing projects for BP, as operator in its EPSA 4 NOC/LIC/BP exploration contract in BP’s Sirte Basin concession off the coast of Libya.
BP’s first 3D marine survey in Libya’s Gulf of Sirte was one of the world’s largest, covering 17,500 square kilometers. The contract split the area into four tracts of approximately equal area and stipulated onboard processing, including 2D SRM1 and full pre-stack time migration with velocity model picking, within six weeks of last shot for each tract. The aim was to produce a high-quality image for prospect identification and to enable the complete well planning process to begin in 2009 leading to early exploration drilling.
South Malak-1 has proved to be a long, drawn out operation for operator Aminex. As of the time of going to press in early January 2010, the well was in the process of being hydraulically fractured. It’s a long story.
The exploration well, located in the West esh el Mellaha-2 concession in Egypt, reached a revised total depth(TD) of 11,200 feet (3,415 meters) as far back as 21st October 2009. High gas readings were recorded over 950 feet of hole and mud logs indicated oil shows in Eocene Dolomite and Cretaceous Matulla sands as well as in fractured basement rocks. Casing was set to approximately 170 feet above TD with a view to running an open hole test in the fractured basement rocks, but this was not successful, possibly because of cement contamination blocking the open fractures.
Subsequently, wireline logged oil- bearing intervals in the Eocene Dolomite and Matulla sands were perforated but the formations were found to be too tight to flow satisfactorily. Even the hydraulic fracturing is turning out to be a lengthy process and definitive results may still not be received for several weeks while fluids used in the frac are recovered. Aminex declared, almost in a tone of frustration: “The fracture treatment may or may not be successful in establishing commercial production but in a highly faulted formation the strong evidence of liquid hydrocarbons in close proximity is very encouraging”.
Partners are Aminex Petroleum Egypt Ltd. (80%) and Groundstar Resources Ltd. (20%). Aminex is a 12.5% shareholder in Aminex Petroleum Egypt Ltd. (operator) and is carried by other participants for 10% of exploration costs through to first commercial production. If sub-commercial rates of production are achieved, the carry will continue so long as the drilling programme continues.
Dana Gas has announced a significant gas and condensate discovery at its El Basant-2 well in the Nile Delta Concession in Egypt.
The El Basant-2 well, located 1.4 kilometers northeast of the El Basant-1 discovery in the West El Manzala Concession, was spudded on December 6, 2008, reaching a total depth of 3,050 meters and encountered 37 meters of net sand pay with good porosity and permeability in the Qawasim formation.
“The El Basant hydrocarbon accumulation significantly raises Dana Gas’s reserves in Egypt”, according to Hany Elsharkawi, Dana Gas country director in Egypt.
“This acreage is particularly attractive to us as we have established production in the area and we are able to bring new discoveries on production quickly and at comparatively low cost. In addition our gas is sold at a fixed price and therefore our gas revenues have not been negatively affected by the recent drop in global oil prices. Dana Gas has already applied for a Development Lease, which we expect to be granted soon, and we anticipate a production start-up by the end of March 2009.”
Following an extensive testing programme at El Basant-2, Dana Gas plans to transport the hydrocarbons produced from the well through a pipeline to its El Wastani field facilities, which lie about ten kilometers to the north of the well.
“Dana Gas ends 2008 with solid growth in production and activities and a positive outlook for the coming year, despite the global financial crisis”, said Mr. Neeraj Agrawal, Dana Gas Finance Director.
Less than a week after Kosmos reported the success of Mahogany 3, in appraising existing reservoir and coming up on new, deeper payzone, Tullow Oil put out the news that its Hyedua-2 well flowed at a stable rate of 16,750 BOPD. Both wells are located in the deepwater Jubilee field, offshore Ghana. In fact, the Mahogany field, discovered in the West Cape Points Three Points and the Heydua accumulation, located in Deepwater Tano License, are one and the same field ; they straddle and are being jointly developed (unitized) as a single (Jubilee) field.
In the ongoing appraisal activity the operators keep christening the wells with the original prospect names and this may be confusing to those who are trying to follow up the development of Jubilee field.
Kosmos reported that 33metres of net pay were encountered in Mahogany 3, “whose primary objective was to appraise the Jubilee field reservoir section away from the strong seismic amplitudes which have been the main targets to date”. The company said that the results of drilling, wireline logs and samples of reservoir fluid indicate that 16 metres of high quality stacked oil bearing sandstones have been encountered. “This confirms a significant extension of the Jubilee field to the southeast”. The company said that the secondary objective of the well was to drill Mahogany Deep, an exploration target which had been identified on 3D seismic but lies at a previously untested stratigraphic level. In this section, “the well encountered 17 metres of good quality oil bearing reservoir sandstones at levels significantly deeper than the oil water contacts previously intersected on the Jubilee field”. This success opens up further potential in the region and is the subject of ongoing evaluation.
Kosmos didn’t do any drill stem test on Mahogany 3, which reached a total depth of 4,028 metres in a water depth of 1,236 metres.
Tullow’s announcement of 16,75OBOPD as flow rates for Heydua 2 recalls the early days of deepwater discoveries in deepwater Angola. Heydua 2 reached a total depth of about 3,663 metres in a water depth of 1,246 metres and was tested via 88/64” choke with a tubing head pressure of 1,380psi( pounds per square inch). It intersected 55 metres of high quality oil bearing reservoir sandstones of which a 41 metre section was tested.
The flow rates, “at nearly 17,000 BOPD of high quality crude, from a well not even in the centre of the field, is an outstanding success and indicative of a world class reservoir”, said Aidan Heavey, Tullow’s Chief Executive. Hyedua-2 is located on the north-west flank of the field and Tullow says the excellent reservoir properties measured during the flow test are expected to be even better in the core area of the field. The company reports that stable oil and gas flow rates were maintained throughout the tests and the pressure data indicated that it is connected to a large pore volume. “Excellent reservoir continuity enhances our expectation of connectivity between the planned production and injection wells and we are currently assessing the positive impact on Phase 1 reserves”.
Hess Corporation, known in Africa for its cash cow Le Ceiba field in Equatorial Guinea, has announced itself as a significant player in the north of the continent.
The company encountered significant pay zones in two offshore wells in the Mediterranean region: one in Libya and the other in Egypt.
The A1-54/01 well in the Arous Al-Bahar prospect in Libya was drilled to a depth of 3376metres in 856metres of water. The well encountered a gross hydrocarbon section of approximately 152.4 meters at various intervals. Hess holds a 100 percent working interest in Area 54, which is located 38 miles offshore in the Sirte Basin.
In Egypt, the Dekhila-lx well in the West Mediterranean (Block 1) deepwater area, located 45 miles offshore within the Nile Delta Basin, was drilled to a depth of 2707 metres in 1183 metres of water and found a gross hydrocarbon section of 45.11 meters at multiple intervals. Hess holds a 55 percent working interest in the production sharing arrangement with the state company, EGPC. The company’s partners are RWE Dea (35 percent) and Kufpec (10 percent). The results of Dekhila-1x will be incorporated into engineering studies for the wider West Med development.
Libya’s state hydrocarbon company NOC has announced a new oil and gas discovery that its partner the Arabian Gulf Oil Company (AGOCO) made Ghadames Basin. The well is located approximately 500 kilometers south of Tripoli and 170 kilometers west of the Hamada oil field.
The wildcat D1-NC7A, well encountered multiple shows from three levels of reservoir formations. At a depth of 2522 to 2530 metres in the Upper Acacus sandstone formation, tests flowed oil at a rate of 668 BOPD and 22.5 MMcf/d of natural gas. At a vertical depth of 2724 to 2720 metres in the Middle Acacus sandstone formation, tests showed oil flowing at a rate of 500 BOPD and 21.1 MMcf/d of natural gas. In the Lower Acacus sandstone formation with vertical depths ranging from 2752 to 2884metres, multipe tests showed oil flowing from a rate of 790 BOPD to 1,251 BOPD and gas flowing at a rate of 27.6 MMcf/d to 28.9 MMcf/d. All oil has measured 64.4 degrees API.
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