Independent oil and gas exploration company, Gulf Keystone announced the results of further testing of the Butmah (1783m to 1814m) section of the Jurassic on its Shaikan-1 discovery well in the Kurdistan region of Northern Iraq.
The company which is focused on exploration in the Kurdistan region of Northern Iraq holds Production Sharing contracts for four exploration blocks in the region.
The company said that final production rates during this week’s re-test were measured at 4,650bpd with an API gravity of 17.68 degrees and a gas oil ratio of 34 standard cubic feet per barrel of oil at a flowing wellhead pressure of 295 psi. This is in line with the previously estimated rate, the company said in a statement.
The Mus (1627m to 1667m) section of the Jurassic will be re-tested next, followed by the Sargelu (1450m to 1510m), which will then also be configured for long term production testing.
John Gerstenlauer, chief operating officer for Gulf Keystone said: “I am encouraged by this verification of the flow capacity of the Butmah formation. This test represents another step in our efforts to confirm and define the magnitude of the Shaikan discovery. The well has now demonstrated an aggregate flow capacity of over 20,000bpd from just a fraction of the total prospective interval. I look forward to further testing and also to commercial oil sales from the long term test of the Sargelu, commencing later this year.”
On Wednesday, the company began drilling operations on its Sheikh Adi-1 exploration well. Â This is Gulf Keystone’s first exploration well to be drilled on the Sheikh Adi block immediately to the west of the company’s Shaikan block, site of last year’s discovery of the giant Shaikan oil field. The company has an 80% working interest in the block and is carrying the Kurdistan Regional Government’s 20% working interest.
The well design for Sheikh Adi-1 has been modified to drill through the geopressured sections of the Triassic. This high pressure interval forced the cessation of drilling on Shaikan-1, at the point when the well experienced the inflow of significant volumes of oil and gas from this section of the Triassic.
The Sheikh Adi-1 is designed to drill through the Cretaceous, Jurassic and the Triassic age rocks, to a planned total depth, depending on well results, of 3,850 metres. Drilling is expected to take six months. The company’s estimated oil-in-place resource potential for the Sheikh Adi structure is in excess of one billion barrels.
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