WesternZagros Resources Ltd. has completed its testing program in the Eocene reservoir, the second of three target intervals in the Kurdamir-2 exploration well in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The testing proved an oil deposit in the naturally fractured limestones of the Eocene Formation, adding to the Oligocene reservoir which was the primary target of the well.
A single cased hole test was performed over a net perforated interval of 108 meters and resulted in the flow of light, 45 degree API oil at sub-commercial flow rates. No water leg was encountered and no formation water was recovered during the test.
Following an acid fracture stimulation, the well flowed back a mixture of oil, emulsion and spent acid. This is the first test of the Eocene and the Company will engage in further study to optimise completion techniques in order to unlock this resource.
The Company does not expect its earlier Eocene mean estimate of gross unrisked prospective oil resources of 278 million barrels (“MMbbl”) to change appreciably from these test results. The base of the perforated Eocene reservoir interval is interpreted to be approximately 220 meters below the seismically mapped four-way structural dip closure of the Kurdamir structure, which suggests that in a similar manner as the Cretaceous and Oligocene, the Eocene is also involved in a larger trap.
“This test result provides another piece of evidence that Kurdamir and the neighbouring Tophkana structure share a common oil accumulation in the Eocene reservoir,” said WesternZagros’s Chief Executive Officer Simon Hatfield. “We are now undertaking further work to better understand the reservoir characteristics and the drilling, completion and stimulation techniques that will be required to make the Eocene a viable commercial reservoir in the future.”
The Eocene reservoir has the potential to be an attractive oil resource addition to the main Kurdamir Oligocene hydrocarbon resource. The combined audited unrisked mean estimate for all three reservoirs on the Kurdamir prospect is 1,609 MMbbl of prospective oil resources as at May 31, 2012, 17 percent of which (278 MMbbls), is attributed to the Eocene. The Company does not expect this number to change materially.
As previously reported in March 2012, the first drill stem test on the Kurdamir-2 well resulted in a major oil discovery in the Oligocene interval. The well was then drilled to a total depth of 4,000 meters in June 2012. In addition to the oil-bearing intervals encountered in the Oligocene and Cretaceous reservoirs, hydrocarbon shows and wireline logs indicated the presence of a gross hydrocarbon-bearing interval of approximately 275 meters of fractured limestones and marls in the Eocene Formation, which was the focus of the recent testing program.
Preparations are currently underway to conduct a multi-cased-hole testing program on the primary zone of interest in this well, which is the 118 meters of gross oil pay already discovered in the Oligocene that accounts for 72 percent of the prospective oil resources in the Kurdamir prospect. The operator, Talisman (Block K44) B.V., and WesternZagros are aligned on planning a 3D seismic program over the Kurdamir and Topkhana structures and a further appraisal well (Kurdamir-3) to assess the ultimate size of the Kurdamir discovery. WesternZagros and Talisman each have a 40 percent working interest in the Kurdamir Block, with the Kurdistan Regional Government holding the remaining 20%.
