Dragon Oil has announced the successful completion and initial testing of one of its Cheleken contract area wells in the Caspian Sea, offshore Turkmenistan.
The Dzheitune (Lam) 28/134 development well was drilled to a depth of 3,280 metres. Initial testing of the long and short strings resulted in production rates of 2,685 barrels of oil per day (bopd) and 869 bopd respectively, with further testing and optimisation scheduled to take place over the coming weeks. The Dzheitune (Lam) 28/134 development well is the second well to be completed from the refurbished Dzheitune (Lam) 28 platform.Â
The Iran Khazar jack-up rig has now skidded to spud the Dzheitune (Lam) 28/136 development well. The platform-based Rig 40 is currently drilling the Dzheitune (Lam) 13/135 development well.
“I am pleased to announce the successful completion and initial testing of the Dzheitune (Lam) 28/134 development well using the Iran Khazar jack-up rig,” said Dr Abdul Jaleel Al Khalifa, chief executive officer, Dragon Oil.
“While the current production rate is approximately 43,500 bopd due to the slow start to the drilling programme this year; we, nevertheless, remain focussed on meeting our annual production growth forecast for 2009,” he added.
Dragon Oil’s principal development and production interest is located in the Cheleken contract area which covers approximately 950 square kilometres and comprises two offshore oil and gas fields, Dzheitune (Lam) and Dzhygalybeg (Zhdanov), in water depths of between 8 and 42 metres.
The focus for Dragon Oil is on the re-development of these two producing fields that were discovered during the Soviet era in Turkmenistan. Dragon Oil holds a 100% interest in, and is operator of, the Production Sharing Agreement for the Cheleken area.
There are currently 52 active wells producing from 12 platforms. Dragon Oil’s average field production rate for Q1 2009 from the Cheleken contract area was 43,787 bopd.
